


So Much More to Learn and Do

by got_your_back_always_will



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Post-Canon, Spirit World Vacation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-08
Updated: 2016-02-03
Packaged: 2018-04-25 09:39:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4955425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/got_your_back_always_will/pseuds/got_your_back_always_will
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a humor-filled, angst-free, somewhat meta Korrasami Spirit World Vacation story. Korra and Asami commune with spirits (including Iroh), discover things about the Spirit World, learn more about each other, and awkwardly figure out their transition towards being a couple.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The First Night

_“The Spirit World is very mysterious, but so is love.”_  
\-- Iroh

Korra had a fair amount of experience in this, and in a variety of different ways; for Asami this was her first time. But there was no nervousness here. Asami had wanted this for quite some time. You could say that she had been curious about this for three years.

Yet neither of them were focused much on the lights or the noise in those seconds it takes to travel from the material world to the spirit world. Their eyes were fixed on each other’s, a pair of green staring into a pair of blue.

It didn’t occur to Korra to want more or do more at the moment. Looking into Asami’s eyes was enough. She watched them narrow, not sure if she was being seductive or just trying to block out the intensifying light. But once the light faded -- once they found themselves in the Spirit World -- she saw those eyes open up in astonishment, and look around in all directions.

Korra kept her eyes on Asami, curious as to her friend’s reaction to seeing the Spirit World for the very first time. Asami took a few paces out of the Spirit Portal, so caught up in the sights coming into focus around them that she nearly tripped. Korra, ever attentive, hustled to try to catch her but it was unnecessary.

The first time Korra was in this location was not too long ago.  She had been blasted here by the power of the spirit vines, accompanied by a world dictator whose life she chose to save. This, by comparison, was a much more pleasant experience – a decision to go on vacation with her closest friend.

Asami was awestruck by the sights surrounding them – the surreal glow of the flowers beneath them, the beautifully twisted forms of the trees around them, the iceberg-like mountains in the distance, and the dark palette of the sky. She gasped and gaped at everything.

Korra didn't want to interrupt but wanted to comment that it was like nothing that existed in the material world. Except Asami spoke first and seemed to counter that notion.

The words came from Asami a little breathless and rather thoughtful, “It’s like… it’s like the aquarium on Varrick’s ship.”

That was not what Korra was expecting to hear. Korra had been too busy throwing punches at strawmen on the deck of the Zhu Li to have wandered to that part of Varrick’s battleship but it did not surprise Korra that the eccentric businessman would have an aquarium that looked like this. She took a quick glance at the sights surrounding them and remarked, “This does look like a scene from Varrick’s brain.” Her eyes narrowed and a smirk appeared on her face. “I wonder what Varrick thought when Tenzin approached him about the glider suit.”

A mischievous smile appeared on Asami’s face. “It’s possible Varrick thanked him for the idea.”

“I should have brought a glider. Would’ve been easier travel.”

“For you.”

“We’d make it work somehow.”

Asami looked Korra up and down, trying to figure out where she’d hold onto the Avatar to “make it work.” Korra felt Asami’s eyes on her and was thinking the same exact thing. For a moment, they stood there imagining hands and arms wrapped up in different ways. At one point, at least one of them forgot to include the glider in her thoughts and felt embarrassed about it.

Korra gave a throat clearing cough and took a few steps to a patch in the field of flowers that was familiar to her.

“I think this was the spot where I caught Kuvira.”

“Oh,” said Asami, caught a little off-guard, “She was still fighting you in the Spirit World?”

“No, I mean, from falling. She was barely conscious and…” Korra put her arms out as if re-catching the former dictator. “I _caught_ her.” She looked down at her arms, at how gentle and relaxed they looked, and just then realized how nice it would be to hold Asami there like that, and then being taken aback by the thought that Kuvira had been there.

Asami was looking at Korra’s arms too, as well as the space between them. She sighed. She admitted to herself that she would have liked to have been held there herself but the image didn’t sit right with her knowing who else had been in that very spot. She quickly collected herself by looking at the sights surrounding them. There was a light, observational tone to her voice, “Well, it is a beautiful, romantic setting.” She then turned back to Korra and said with a feigned jealousy, “It’s no wonder you take all the girls here.”

Korra’s eyes lit up in a mini-panic. Why did she mention Kuvira, the woman responsible for Asami’s father’s death? “Just the one. And it was completely by accident!” No, no, these were not the right words to say! She bit her lip and lowered her head. She couldn’t even look at Asami.

And Asami felt terrible, not just because of the subject but also at how it made Korra feel. She could feel it in the air between them. She could have sworn she also felt a slight shiver from a sudden breeze.

“Well,” Asami reassuringly wrapped her arm around Korra’s shoulder, “there’s a lot more Spirit World that you could show me, right.”

“Yes, there’s that field I meditate into…where those prarie-dog meerkats attacked me. And there’s Xai Bao’s grove…where Zaheer…”

“Maybe we can find some new places.”

“There’s always Iroh and his tea shop!” Korra perked up, but forced a little extra excitement in her actions.  She scanned around and pointed. “My Avatar feelings say we should go this way.” Oh, that was a lie. Korra had no idea where she was going. She just wanted to be somewhere else at the moment – with Asami – but somewhere else.

Korra walked a little ahead of Asami, far enough ahead that Asami couldn’t keep her hand on her shoulder.   _Why couldn’t she say the right things?_ She shook her head briefly and took a deep sigh.

Being taller, Asami didn’t have any trouble catching up with Korra.  She had no idea if she should touch Korra. This would have been an ideal time to hold hands or something. Though they were now walking side-by-side through this field of flowers that resembled underwater coral, a small space existed between them wanting to be filled. They occasionally looked at one another as they walked though neither said a word, neither knowing what exactly to say.

As Asami observed more of their surroundings, she realized that Korra’s “ _Avatar feelings”_ was actually basic logic.  She has chosen a path where the distant iceberg-like mountains appeared shortest. As they got closer, Asami started to feel coldness in her fingertips and began rubbing her hands together.

Korra noticed. Without really thinking, she stopped and put her own hands atop Asami’s. Korra’s hands were uncommonly warm.  “Let me know if it’s too warm.”

“This, this is good.” They both smiled. After Korra removed her hands, they kept walking towards the mountains. Asami wanted to make a comment about the perk of dating firebenders, but couldn’t get it to leave her lips. It wasn’t so much about bringing up their firebending mutual ex-boyfriend but, well, were they dating? Was this a date? What was going on?

Thankfully, the size of the iceberg mountains was a bit of an illusion. There was a clear path through them that didn’t necessitate Korra bending any elements. Once they got to the other side, they found themselves looking down a slight grassy slope leading towards a wooded area from which emanated small sparkles of light.

“What do you suppose is causing the light?” asked Asami.

“Let’s find out!”

They bounded down the slope towards the woods. As they got nearer, it became clear what was happening. They were witnessing what appeared to be thousands of small glowflies emitting light in synchronous, easily discernable patterns.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Korra, “And I’ve seen a lot of strange things.”

Asami grabbed her hand and pointed to a nearby log with the other. They unslung their knapsacks as they headed over to it, then sat next to one another on the log.

“I’ve read about them,” mentioned Asami. “Not all species of glowflies are able to set off lights in patterns like this. Well, if these are really glowflies.”

“What do you suppose they’re saying to each other?”

“Oh, it’s a mating ritual,” she said matter-of-factly as she turned to look at Korra. Then she realized what she had just said and started to feel embarrassed.

This amused Korra, even if she felt a little flushed herself from Asami’s textbook fact. She turned to notice that the glowflies seemed a little knocked out of their pattern.

“Not so synchronous now! Maybe they’re a little different from the ones you read about.”

This calmed both of them down. At the same time, the glowflies resumed their synchronized dance through the trees.

Korra and Asami sat there in silence and watched. At one point, Asami moved closer and leaned her head on Korra’s shoulder. They were there so cozy and comfortable that Asami fell asleep and Korra didn’t even notice. Korra wasn’t sure what to do about it. Though tired herself, she knew this wasn’t a good position for sleeping. She could physically lift Asami and find a more suitable place but something about the idea felt weird to her. What if Asami woke up and freaked out about finding herself in a completely different place? No, that wouldn’t be good. So Korra put her hand on her friend’s upper arm and shook her awake.

“Did I fall asleep? I’m so sorry.”

“Yes, and don’t feel sorry. It’s been a long night. But we can’t sleep here. It’s too mossy and weird.”

“Right.”

Korra helped Asami off the log and carried both their bags. They exited the wood and backtracked to the grassy slope. When they found a nice spot, Korra handed Asami her bag and just plopped herself on the ground.

“No blanket?”

“I got used to sleeping anywhere after wandering the world for six months.”

“Right.”

Asami unpacked a blanket, laid it on the ground a couple of feet away from Korra, and slowly set herself on it. For a moment, she stared at the distance on the ground between them. Did she set her blanket too far? Was it too close? Oh, this would drive her crazy. After a moment she turned to look at the sky and tried not to think of it.

Korra had watched all of this out the corner of her eye. She watched her friend stir and fidget, unable to fall back asleep. She knew Asami wasn’t entirely comfortable.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m okay.”

Korra creeped over and before she touched Asami, she asked for permission. “You don’t mind?”

Asami looked up and gave permission with her expression. Korra slid herself next to her friend so that Asami could rest her head on her shoulder, which she did.

“Putting your head on my shoulder worked earlier.”

At this point, Asami wasn’t sure if any of this was real anymore. A part of her worried that she was going to wake up and find herself in her bed in Republic City. It felt very much like a dream – a very comforting dream – and, in her tiredness, she had no idea that these thoughts weren’t solely confined to her head.

“Yes, I can’t believe this is real either,” responded Korra. “Have you been imagining it would be like this for the past three years?” she asked.

Asami’s eyes shot open and she felt herself thrown into a mini-panic. _Korra had known how she felt this whole time?_ She searched her mind for an answer, formulated one, and was about to speak it when Korra continued.

“You weren’t missing much then. This place was loaded with with Vaatu’s dark influence. It’s so much more peaceful like this.”

Asami took a deep breath. It was a relief to not have to answer that question, even if part of her really wanted to answer it. But she was perfectly content with where she was at the moment; bold proclamations and admissions of feelings could be used to brighten another day. She closed her eyes, nestled her head more comfortably on Korra’s shoulder, and thought about her unspoken answer as she drifted to sleep.

Korra watched her do this, noticing how Asami looked as peaceful then as the Spirit World felt at the moment. “…and snazzy too,” she added, not entirely certain what she was referring to.

 


	2. Science and the Spirit World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Korra and Asami make their way to Iroh’s. Korra teaches Asami some things about the spirit world. Asami does something for science (or, at least, that’s what she tells Korra).

The sky was a bright calm blue when Asami awoke the next day.  Her head was propped where she had left it – on Korra’s shoulder, and slightly pressed against her chest. She was close enough to hear the Avatar’s heartbeat and it was a comforting sound – as if it was a synced-up soundtrack to the world around them.

It was hard to believe that this wasn’t a dream. While she might have imagined in earlier days herself in the Spirit World or even herself with the Avatar, she couldn’t see how either could have become a reality, no less both situations combined in this way – vacationing in the Spirit World with the Avatar sleeping next to her with an arm wrapped around her. In case it was all a dream, she resolved to hold onto this moment as long as possible.

…even if her neck hurt just a little.

But no, she wasn’t going to move.

At first, she tried falling back asleep but that couldn’t be helped. Her range of vision was limited. She could see a few light clouds in the sky and the occasional spirit fly by. For a moment, a dragonfly-bunny spirit even hovered over them for a bit. It made Asami wonder if dragonfly-bunnies had a natural curiosity towards humans, especially given how inseparable Bumi and Bum-Ju were at times.

She had no idea how long she had been laying there when she could hear Korra’s breathing change and felt the arm on her back slide up to her arm.

There was a mighty yawn. “Did you sleep okay?” asked the Avatar, a slight smile on her face.

“I’m good,” Asami responded. She raised her head, then moved slightly away, supporting her own weight. She could feel more keenly a crick in her neck but she tried to hide this.

“Have you been awake for a while?”

“Oh, not long.”  It was a lie. She sat up and moved a little further away, off the blanket.

Korra moved off the blanket as well, then picked it up and started folding it, feeling the fabric in her hands. “This is a very sleek blanked,” she observed. “Very thin but strong and warm.”

Seeing that Korra was focused on the blanket, Asami stole a moment to rub the back of her neck. “Future Industries experimented with lots of fabrics trying to find something ideal for the airbenders’ new wingsuits. That blanket is made from the wool of koala-sheep.” She took a second to consider what she was talking about. “I’m not boring you, am I?”

“No, this is fascinating.” Korra was rubbing a piece of the fabric between her fingers. She raised her head and looked at Asami. “This is different from the wingsuits.”

“We tried spinning it the wool in a variety of different ways but nothing worked for the suits. But it turned out that the material could be used to make a nice travel blanket.” She took the folded blanket from Korra and put it into her knapsack.

Korra stood up and put out a hand to help Asami up.

“So it’s not just machines anymore?”

“Future Industries has always experimented with fabrics. Satomobiles have seats in them, you know. And if we buy wool from the farmers, that means they’ll have money—“

“—to buy Satomobiles.”

“If this Avatar thing doesn’t work out and you’re looking for something to do--.” She stopped as she noticed Korra looking at her peculiarly. “What is it?”

“I think we need to find some water.”

“Well, I am a bit thirsty right now, but my canteen is full.”

“No, you’ll see when we get there.” She pointed back to the woods. “If those were glowflies we saw last night, there has to be water nearby.”

They started walking back towards the woods.

“You know how they had those favors at the wedding?”

“All those random Varrick Global Industries things?”

“Yes. You wouldn’t have happened to grab any Varri-cakes on the way out?”

“Varri-cakes aren’t breakfast food.”

“We’re on _vacation_ , Asami.” She looked up at the sky, “And I think it’s early afternoon. Snack time.”

Asami reached into her bag and handed Korra a Varri-cake. Korra opened it eagerly and consumed half of the mass-manufactured treat in one bite, then wiped the jelly filling off her mouth with her arm sleeve.

“You’re really hungry.”

Korra scarfed down the other half of the bar and spoke while chewing. “You have another one?”

“I’ve got some instant noodles.”

“Great!”

Korra was about to wipe her mouth with her sleeve again when Asami grabbed her arm to stop her. She grabbed a handkerchief out of her own bag and started to blot the jelly off of Korra’s lips. And yes, she thought about it -- she thought about using this opportunity to steal a kiss off those lips. But she backed off and wondered what was wrong with her for even having that idea.

They shortly found themselves in the same place where they had witnessed the previous night’s glowfly light show. Korra listened carefully for the rustling sounds of water and quickly found a stream. She knelt down next to it and put her hand into the water.

“What is it that you needed to show me?”

“Spirit water, Asami.”

Korra bent some water out of the stream and was using it on her shoulder, on the area Asami had slept on the previous night.

“Did I hurt you last night?”

“I’m not used to people falling asleep on me.”

“Sor—“

“There’s nothing to feel sorry about. Besides…” she stopped paying attention to her self-healing “…I don’t think I’m the only one who experienced some discomfort last night. You’ve been grabbing your neck.”

Asami’s hand went to the sore part of her neck.

“Oh, you noticed. Your shoulder’s pretty hard, you know.”

“I have softer parts!”

Asami blushed and stifled a laugh. Korra smiled in amusement. She then walked over to Asami and bent the water over her sore neck.

“You’re using the same water you used on— _oh._ ” Not that Asami would have necessarily minded Korra reusing her shoulder water on her neck but the healing powers felt amazing.

“This is probably overkill, using spirit water for neck pain.” She bended the water onto her sleeve to clean the Varri-cake jelly off.

“Why did you stop?”

“Because it’s instant noodle time.”

Asami sighed and pulled a tiny pot out of her bag. She used it to scoop up some water and handed it over to Korra who firebended the water to a boil. Asami took out a packet of instant noodles and emptied it into the tin, then took out a couple of non-metal cups and chopsticks. When the noodles were cooked, they divided them between the two cups. Korra even airbent the cups so that the broth wouldn’t be too hot.

“You are spoiling me. I don’t think I can go camping with anyone else.”

“I never pegged you as someone who’d enjoy camping.”

Asami stirred her noodles around with her chopsticks. “You can’t be afraid to mix it up sometimes.”

Korra stared at her cup of noodles. “It feels very strange using spirit water like this. We used to only be able to get it from the spirit oasis at the North Pole and it was treated as the most special thing. When Princess Azula struck Avatar Aang with lightning, Master Katara was able to revive him with a small vial of this stuff.”

“And now we’re using cups of spirit water to enjoy Flamey-O’s Instant Noodles.”

Korra shoveled noodles into her mouth. “It’s a sacrilege,” she said, her mouth still full.

Asami chewed her food and swallowed it before speaking. “Well, it’s better than hobo stew.”

“No, this is fine. But you know where they have great noodles? Narook’s.”

“That’s authentic water tribe fare. I’ve heard Bolin talk about it.”

“Yeah, he took me there.” She trailed off, “That one time.”

Asami could sense Korra’s awkwardness. “Was it a _date_?”

“Yeah.” Korra hung her shoulders. “I didn’t know it was a date-date. Or maybe I did know. Or I didn’t think it was that serious. And you, and Mako…and I…” She shook her head, determined not to feel bad about a date that happened years ago. “…but everything worked out in the end. And maybe when we get back we can go to Narook’s with Bolin and Opal and Mako too,” she added cheerfully.

Asami felt herself and the whole world brighten up when Korra cheered up.

But the feeling didn’t last because Korra hadn’t finished her thought. “…if there’s still a Narook’s.”

And then it felt darker – pervasively darker. Even Asami’s own thoughts were affected. She sighed, “If it’s now downtown, it should be fine…unlike other businesses.”

Korra’s eyes lighted up in a panic. She searched for words to brighten up the atmosphere but none came.

Asami reached into her bag and pulled out a Varri-cake. “ _Vacation_ , right?” She unwrapped it at one end and took a small bite She then held the bar out some distance from herself to let some of the filling fall out. “The filling is ridiculous.”

“It’s the best part.”

“We tried making some nutritional travel bars for the air nation – something they could easily travel with and wasn't made with animal products.  These were too gooey to travel with. The filling kept bursting out and ruining things.”

“I don’t think I ever thanked you.”

“For what?

“For taking care of the Air Nation while I was gone. And the spirit wilds in Republic City.”

“You don’t have to thank me. I would’ve—“

Korra gently put her hand on Asami’s. “Just let me thank you.”

Their eyes met, then Asami saw Korra’s eyes look at their hands, then turned back to her face with an almost pleading expression. Asami started to lean closer but Korra spoke first.

“And if you’re not going to finish that Varri-cake, may I have the rest of it?”

Asami laughed and gave the dessert snack to the Avatar.

“Thanks.”

Korra showed off her waterbending and airbending cleaning techniques as they packed up their gear. They worried for a moment when a tiny spirit frog had leapt in front of them and licked up some Varri-cake filling, especially when the frog started changing colors.

“I think it was just happy,” shrugged the Avatar.

They were now walking through the forest. It was fairly overgrown but light still found its way through the canopy of the trees, casting shadows everywhere.

“Are you sure Iroh’s is on the other side of this forest?”

“Well, the first time I met Iroh he found me in a creepy forest.”

“So this is the creepy forest?”

They looked around.

“It doesn’t look so creepy _now_ but back then Vaatu was around and I reverted to a four-year-old--”

“You what?”

“I don’t think either of us can revert to four-year-olds _now_. I think that was because I meditated into the spirit world. I don’t think the same rules apply when you walk through a spirit portal.”

At times, Asami felt like she could read Korra’s thoughts just by looking her. She could tell that the Avatar wasn’t entirely sure about the rules of the spirit world. It was like she could see the gears turning in Korra’s mind. She saw the worry behind Korra’s eyes.

Korra caught Asami observing her. “I was an embarrassing four-year-old.”

“I’m sure you were adorable.”

“Adorably kicking down doors and telling people to ‘deal with it’.”

“Are you sure you’re talking about your four-year-old self?”

“No, really. You were probably a perfect four-year-old.”

“Some of us can’t help it.” She made to toss her hair, forgetting that she had pulled it back into a pony tail.

Korra laughed. Asami blushed.

The sun disappeared at times as they walked through the forest. This was offset by the luminescence of the flora around them. Mushrooms, mosses, various undergrowth, flowers – all seemed to glow in the shade.

“I wonder if it’s the phosphorous,” ruminated Asami.

“The what?”

“Making the plants glow.”

“It could be their _spiritiness_.”

_“Spiritiness?”_

“I glow sometimes. Well, my eyes do. You know, Raava, _Avatar Spirit-y_ stuff. Believe me, I was more bewildered by spirit world the first time I entered than you are. You have to throw logic out.”

Korra found a large fruit hanging off a low branch.

“See this, it looks like a dragon fruit. It might be a dragon fruit. But then…” she put her finger on the fruit, at which point it broke apart and turned into multi-colored flying bugs. “…spirits!”

_“Avatar Korra’s Rule of Spiritiness,”_ mused Asami.

“If you insist.”

“You know, we’re kind of lucky it didn’t turn into buzzard-wasps or something.”

They kept walking. The glow around them turned from effervescent to ominous. Asami thought that they must be getting closer because this part of the forest could easily be described as “creepy”.

Korra stopped and looked around.

“Are we lost?”

“No,” Korra responded immediately. “No, not lost.”

But Asami could tell that Korra felt they were lost. But Korra pointed to fallen branches and cobwebs around them and put on an air of confidence.

“See, very creepy here. We’re close.”

She saw the Avatar give a little shiver and continue to walk further into the darkness.

“I think Iroh’s is on the other side of this.” They had reached an incredibly rocky patch.

“So you passed by here the last time you met up with Iroh?”

“No. I met him in Xai Bao’s Grove when I was looking for Zaheer. The first time I met him I had just been bombarded by angry prarie-dog-meerkats who opened up a hole in the ground where I ended up in water and was swallowed by a giant lizard who then dropped me into a creepy forest, and then Iroh found me.”

“How did you ever find the Tree of Time?”

“I helped a baby-dragon bird up a mountain, and then it combined with three other baby dragon-birds to make one big dragon-bird, and I hopped on its back and it took me to the Tree of Time.”

Asami let out a skeptically-sounding, drawn-out “Yeah.”

“I’m not making it up.”

“No, I believe you. It’s just, do you think maybe the next time we see a spirit you can ask them for directions?”

“Sure. If we come across a friendly spirit I’ll ask.”

They climbed up the rocky path and kept walking. Asami could swear she could hear Korra repeatedly muttering under her breath, _“I have light inside; I have light inside.”_

Soon they were amongst some less ominous trees – they bore flower buds that had not bloomed yet. Asami could have sworn that there were markings that looked like faces on some of the trees.  She was amused at how confused all the tree faces looked. Then she wondered if the trees could talk and if they were friendly enough to ask directions from.

Korra stopped to look around again. Her hand was on the back of her neck and her eyes were scanning all around. Asami could feel Korra’s confusion, and she felt like the environment could feel it too. She realized that she had been hyper aware of Korra’s emotions during their vacation so far and until this point she thought that it was due to loving Korra so much. But now she had another idea. She had a theory she needed to test.

“Maybe we should try Wan Shi Tong’s library? Maybe there’s a map there.”

“Oh no.” Korra’s expression changed.

Asami could feel an acute charge in the air. She looked at the trees and could see angry expressions building on the “faces”.

Korra’s brows were furrows and she was making a fist. “After what happened with Jinora, if I see that owl’s face I swear–“ Korra dropped off as she noticed that Asami wasn’t looking at her.

“Interesting,” observed Asami softly. The expressions in the foliage changed back to quizzical.

“What’s interesting?”

Asami couldn’t resist any longer. She grabbed Korra by the collar and pulled her into an intense kiss. Korra was completely unprepared for it, shocked that it was happening, but shocked in a good way.  She shut her eyes and enjoyed it. She barely got to reciprocate when Asami backed away, distracted by the colorful plants flowering around them. Her mouth was agape as she surveyed everything.

Korra put the pieces together and blushed. “The spirit world is affected by our moods. Because I’m the Avatar and connected to Raava, my emotions have the greatest effect.  I didn’t tell you this before, did I?”

“No, you didn’t!” responded Asami shaking her head and smirking with a hint of outrage that wasn't entirely false.

“So if you had had this information, would you have kissed me just now?”

“I would have kissed you a lot sooner!” said Asami, forcefully.

Korra raised an eyebrow. “That _passionately_?”

“I couldn’t resist. I did it for science.” Asami shrugged playfully.

Korra smirked. “Sure, scientist. What other experiments do you have planned for the spirit world?”

“Oh, wouldn't you want to know.” They were looking into each other’s eyes. Asami already found Korra fascinating in their own world. In the spirit world she was exponentially more interesting.

She leaned over to Korra as if to kiss her again but, instead, started tickling her. As Korra tried to wriggle away, a flower bud exploded near them, covering them in glittery pollen.

Korra airbended most of the pollen away. She then bended water out of a canteen and was using it to carefully wash Asami’s face. She was playfully tut-tutting under her breath as if she disapproved of Asami’s actions.

“This is nice; I regret nothing.”

“Didn’t you learn anything from Varrick and the spirit vines? Science and the spirit world is a dangerous combination.”

“I’ll wear goggles next time,” she said, shamelessly.

As Korra cleaned them up, a bunch of spirit butterflies descended upon the scene, attracted to the blooming flowers, likely drinking up spirit nectar. One even perched itself on Korra’s wrist.

“Hey, little guy, would you happen to know the way to Iroh’s?”

The spirit butterfly took flew a few feet away, then circled back, as if waiting. They exchanged a look of “why not” and followed it. After what felt like ten minutes they found themselves outside of the forest, looking down upon a clearing. In the distance they could see a mountain. Before it, they could see a little hut. The sky was dark. It was already night time.

Korra and Asami thanked the spirit butterfly with a slight bow, then watched it flutter back into the forest. Korra had a smug expression when she looked back at Asami.

“We were heading in the correct direction the whole time.”

“You could have airbent yourself over the trees to see where we were going.”

“But where’s the adventure in that? Besides, the spirits could get annoyed by powerful acts of bending.” She started to make for the hut…

…but Asami grabbed her arm. “It’s a bit late, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Well, what if Iroh is asleep? Do we really want to wake him?”

Korra noticed that Asami’s eyes were narrowed as she said this. At first she thought it may be due to sleepiness but she soon caught on to her friend’s meaning. “Maybe we should just camp out over here until morning.”

Asami broke out the blanket and they lay down on it, both looking up at the sky.

“Do you suppose these are the same stars?”

“Oh yes. I needed to navigate by them when I sailed from the South Pole. I recognize them.”

“So the White Lotus taught you something other than fighting.”

“I stared up at them a lot when I was stuck in my wheelchair. You could get a nice view of them from the chieftain’s palace.”

“Sor—“

“I could’ve used a nice blanket like this to keep me warm on those nights.” Her expression changed. “I also…” she hesitated and took a deep breath. “I also – I don’t know – there were times when I wished that you were around. But then I didn’t want you around. I don’t know if that makes any sense.”

“Being alone plays on your mind. You replay thoughts over and over again and you wonder. I wondered how you were doing. When I worked on the airbender wingsuits, sometimes… sometimes I lingered behind on Air Temple Island hoping to hear something. But I had other projects to work on to occupy my time.”

They were about a foot apart and a silence feel between them. They were both deep in thought, thinking about each’s absence from the other’s life. But the thoughts got too deep for Korra. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then opened them as if looking at the sky with a fresh mind.

She pointed to the brightest star in the sky. “It’s easy to find the Big Saber-tooth Moose Lion.”

“Navigators have been using that one for thousands of years.”

“I don’t even think it looks anything like a saber-tooth moose lion.”

“Do any constellations look like the animals they’re named after?”

“Ha!”

“It was an observation.”

“No, I just found Mula the cat-deer.  I never thought about it before but that constellation is named for Avatar Wan’s animal companion.”

“Which one?”

Korra pointed upwards. “That one, up and to the left of the big moose lion.”

“What am I supposed to be seeing?”

Korra moved closer to Asami so that her arm wrapped behind her and their faces were pressed together, cheek-to-cheek. All this was to ensure that their line of sight could be as similar as possible. With her hand she traced out the shape of a cat-deer from the constellation of stars. “Antlers, body, paws: Mula, the cat-deer.”

“How is that different from the moose lion?”

Korra traced over the cat-deer antlers again. “The antlers? They go like this on Mula. But on the moose lion they go out to the side more.” She shifted over to the saber-tooth moose lion constellation and traced with her finger.  “And the moose lion is kind of hulking while the cat-deer is a little more…more _elegant_.”

Asami looked at Korra and thought of how much she had missed talking to her and being near her. There were playful conversations, meaningful conversations, and just the warmth and comfort of her presence. And now their faces were so close.

“Do you suppose…if I kissed you now, that the stars might shine brighter or that comets would shoot through the sky?”

“I don’t think my emotions are _that_ powerful!”

“Are you discouraging me?”

“I—“ Korra hesitated.

Asami propped herself up on one arm and was digging in her pocket with the other. She pulled out her goggled and proceeded to put them on.

Korra started laughing.

Asami’s face was looming teasingly over hers. “I’ve got my protective gear on. Aren’t you remotely curious?”

Korra wasn’t sure if the sight in front of her was hilarious or seductive but before she knew it she could feel Asami’s lips firmly over hers.

Korra watched Asami turn to look up to the sky and pull of her goggles. The sky was unchanged. There were no comets and the stars weren’t twinkling any brighter.

“Sorry to disappoint you.”

“I’m not disappointed.”

Asami casted the goggles aside and lay back down, resting her head more or less in the same area as the previous night, except this time she leaned more on the softer parts.


	3. Uncharted Territory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Korra and Asami converse with spirits. Iroh learns some things about Asami through Pai Sho. Korra is intrigued by a toilet.

As she awoke the next morning, Korra could feel an odd light weight on her chest. She had assumed that it was Asami’s hand so when she opened her eyes and saw a face staring at hers, she was surprised. Though familiar, it wasn’t Asami’s face she was seeing.

“Oh, hey little guy,” said Korra softly and a little groggily.

A chirpy cheery voice responded, “Hi, Avatar.”

“You sure know how to find me,” she whispered.

The slightly translucent, potato-like spirit smiled back and gestured proudly with all of his four arms. “It’s even easier to find you with Raava’s spiritual energy.” The little potato-like spirit was making no effort to be quiet.

Asami stirred awake. She lifted her head and looked up at the spirit. Surprised, the spirit flapped his leaf-like ears like wings and hovered over them. His four arms were hovering over his mouth in a show of embarrassment.

“I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”

“It’s all right,” assured Asami as she sat up. “You two know each other?”

“Yes, this little guy helped me a lot. We me at the Tree of Time a few months ago,” Korra said as she sat up.

“And in the Earth Kingdom near the swamp,” said the spirit as he plopped himself onto Korra’s lap.

“He led me to Toph.”

“And now you’re all better.”

“Thanks for that, even if I did nearly drown in mud.”

“But Toph found you and you’re all better now!”

“How did you know that I had to go to the swamp and see Toph? That place was crazy.”

“I’m a spirit.”                                                                                                                   

Korra stared blankly at the spirit, as if she expected more of an explanation. But the potato-like spirit just looked back at her happily as if that was all the explanation that was needed.

She then noticed the spirit and Asami observing one another.

“You know, I never got your name.”

“Po-Po.” The potato-like spirit four-arm shrugged in embarrassment.

“That's a cute name!”

“It's kind of close to…”

The Avatar raised her hand. “Say no more. I have to call you _something_ and you don't like your name so I'll have to come up with a name for you.”

The spirit perked up.

“How about ‘Lee’?”

The spirit’s face screwed in skepticism. Even Asami seemed surprised by the lack of creativity.

“That's a very human name,” said the spirit.

“Leeeee--ff, Leaf. How about _‘Leaf’_?”

“Leaf? I like that.”

“Leaf, this is Asami. Asami, Leaf.”

“Hi,” greeted the spirit, waving.

“Nice to meet you, Leaf.” Asami held her right hand out for a handshake. Leaf shook it with his both of his right hands.

Korra picked Leaf off her lap and set him on the ground. She got up and helped Asami to her feet. She cast a glance over to Iroh’s house. It sat in a lush, green field. A number of ginko leaf trees stood near it and in the distance was a mountain, Hai-Riyo Peak. She also saw a number of spirits milling about as if they were waiting for Iroh to appear.

“This place is very popular with spirits, huh,” observed Korra.

Leaf was fluttering in the air at eye level with the Avatar and Asami. “Iroh serves the best tea in the Spirit World. Some spirits can’t start their day without a cup! Some also like to celebrate special occasions with him.”

“Yes, I remember. It was May-Jim’s wedding when I had tea with Iroh! I wonder how they’re doing.”

“They’re still together,” said Leaf, adorably.

“Yes, of course,” Korra laughed.

“What’s so funny?” asked Asami.

“They were complete opposites!” said Leaf.

“Oh, okaaaay,” said Asami, not knowing what any of it meant.

“I’ll explain it to you later,” assured Korra.

They finished packing up their bags and headed towards Iroh’s house. They noticed there was a fire going and before they got too close, Iroh appeared at the doorway carrying a tray with two teapots and a cake on it.

On seeing him appear, Korra waved enthusiastically. Iroh nodded his head in acknowledgement and walked in their direction.

“Avatar Korra, nice to see you again.” He turned to Asami. “And you brought a friend.”

“Yes. Iroh, this is Asami. Asami, this is General Iroh.”

“It’s an honor to meet another General Iroh.”

“The pleasure is mine. You must stay for tea. I’ve prepared white dragon tea today!”

“So delicious, it’s heartbreaking,” piped up Asami.

Iroh was pleased. “You know your teas.”

“It’s a favorite.”

Iroh turned to Korra. “I like this one.” He gestured to both, “Come, sit at my table.” He looked down at Leaf. “You too, Po-Po.”

Leaf sighed at hearing his real name but made no protest.

Iroh set the tray on the table. There were already a number of teacups, and dishes on it. He flipped a number of the teacups over and laid them out in a row so that he could fill them quickly. When he finished pouring the row of cups, a number of the waiting spirits each picked up a cup, blew on it to cool it, drank it down, and went on their way, thanking Iroh with a bow as they left.

Before long, it was Iroh, Korra, Asami, Leaf, a raggedy blue fox-like spirit, and a giant reindeer slug with no mouth but with two sensitive eyes sitting at the table. Iroh carefully set about pouring tea into all of their cups.

“Please help yourself to some spirit cakes. You can eat as much as you like and not gain any weight.”

“Cake for breakfast?”

“Cake for every time of the day!” said Iroh enthusiastically.

As Iroh was pouring out the tea, Korra cut slices for Asami, Leaf, the blue fox and the reindeer-slug. She felt awkward placing a slice in front of the reindeer-slug. It didn’t have arms or a mouth.

“She’ll eat it and drink the tea when you’re not looking,” said Iroh. “She doesn’t like anyone watching her eat.”

Iroh made a gesture with his head indicating that they should keep looking at him until he made another gesture to indicate that it was all right to look at the reindeer-slug’s plate again. When they turned to look, only crumbs were left and half the tea had been consumed.

“You picked a really nice place to live as a spirit,” commented Asami.

“I grew up in the Fire Nation royal palace, lived out the rest of my mortal days in the upper ring of Ba Sing Se, and spent a lot of the time between on battlefields. This is very nice change.”

“This tea is very nice – maybe the nicest I’ve ever had.”

“The secret ingredient is love.” Iroh looked curiously from Asami to Korra. “I thought the sky was more colorful yesterday, and the wind had a certain sweetness to it. So I’m thinking this is your second day in the Spirit World.”

“We arrived a couple of nights ago,” said Korra while chewing on some spirit cake.

“Yes.” He said it more as a confirmation. “It’s good to know that you’re happy and doing well. What made you decide to come visit?”

“Well, Asami has never seen the spirit world before.”

“I’ve always been curious to see what this place is like. And it felt like everyone else had been here,” added Asami.

“So we decided that I’d show her around. Except, well, I don’t really know what the big sights are here in the spirit world. There aren’t exactly tourism guides.”

“You could always ask the spirits for guidance.”

“In my experience, not every spirit has been helpful. Present company excluded, of course.”

“Ah, yes. Some spirits are trouble. But I have a friend who may be able to help you.” He put out his hand and radish spirit with leaf propellers landed on it. He whispered some words to it and it took off. “He’s going to ask a very wise friend to visit.”

“Not Wan Shi Tong!” exclaimed Korra, concerned.

“Oh no. Not him. Definitely not him,” said Iroh, as if he agreed with Korra’s assessment of the owl spirit. “He may know over 10,000 things, but I’m not sure he understands love or humanity.”

“A lot of humans don’t understand what it’s like to be a spirit,” contributed Leaf.

“Yes, yes that is true.”

“You’re in a unique position to understand both,” observed Asami.

“When I was human, I thought it the greatest honor to meets spirits. Now that I’m a spirit, I’m honored when I meet humans. And then we have Korra here, a human bonded with a spirit – the spiritual bridge.”

“I thought by leaving the spirit portals open, I wouldn’t have to be the spiritual bridge anymore. I thought humans and spirits would be able to work things out.”

“The world will always need the Avatar.”

“But instead of just one world, there’s two worlds – two worlds that I’ll need to balance.”

“The greatest illusion of this world is the illusion of separation. Everything is connected.”

Korra hunched her shoulders and sighed. “I guess.”

Iroh looked up into the sky. Asami noticed that the light changed slightly. Instinctually, she had placed her hand on Korra’s for reassurance.

“You don’t have to do it alone,” said Asami. I worked a lot with spirits and the spirit vines in Republic City when Future Industries had to overhaul the infrastructure.”

Korra looked down at their hands, then slyly caught Asami’s gaze, then directed her eyes over to an inquisitive Iroh, then back to Asami again, smiling.

When Iroh saw Asami’s eyes on him, he rubbed the back of his neck. “I can help too,” he said, laughing a little awkwardly.

Leaf had sliced a large piece of cake and as he was walking backwards carrying it, stumbled between Korra and Asami, allowing Asami to remove her hand from Korra’s without being too obvious about it.

“Are you able to travel through the spirit portals to make contact with humans?” asked Asami.

“I haven’t tried. I like being on this side. And as a newer spirit, I may lose my immortality on the other side as many other spirits have done.”

“Lord Zuko was surprised that I met up with you here,” said Korra.

“You should tell him he should come and visit! He can have cake and tea and we can play Pai Sho.”

He pointed to the Pai Sho table that was set up.

“Asami, do you play Pai Sho?”

Korra answered for her. “Asami’s a pretty good Pai Sho player.”

“Pretty good?” said Asami as if insulted. “I’m surprised there’s Pai Sho in the Spirit World.”

“You shouldn’t be surprised by anything in the Spirit World. And they say that the game of Pai Sho was invented by the spirits.”

“I’ve read that each culture has its own rules and variations of the game. Is the spirit version of Pai Sho all about slow, methodical strategy?”

“Slower.”

Iroh and Asami got up out of their seats to look at Iroh’s Pai Sho table. Asami’s eyes scanned over it carefully. She then pointed towards a white lotus tile.

“It’s impossible for the person playing this piece to win at this point.”

“That’s probably why he hasn’t returned.” Iroh moved the opponent’s pieces. Asami took over what had been Iroh’s pieces and they played out the strategic endgame.

Korra got up and watched in awe at how quickly they shifted the pieces on the board. She saw a glint in both their eyes. They bowed to one another. Then Iroh spoke excitedly.

“I haven’t played Pai Sho that fast since I came here.” He appeared to wipe a tear from his eye. He was clearly excited at the prospect of having an opponent who wasn’t a spirit. He was already arranging the pieces back to their starting positions. “Come, you must sit with me and play a game or two.”

Asami wasn’t sure if she should. She suddenly remembered the last time she played Pai Sho. She had been visiting her father in prison. The memories of it were coming back to her. But she saw how excited Iroh was and couldn’t deny him what he wanted. She sat down in one of the chairs and helped Iroh set up the board.

“Ladies first.”

They exchanged a quick flurry of moves, Iroh hardly able to contain his excitement. Then finally Asami slowed the play down.

Korra looked around, somewhat distractedly and seemed to dance in place.

“Is something wrong, Korra?” asked Iroh.

“I think I need to earthbend a hole somewhere. Those spirit cakes really add up,” she said, gesturing about her tummy.

Iroh laughed.  “You don't have to do that. There's a toilet in my house. Feel free to use it.”

“I thought there weren’t any toilets in the Spirit World!”

“Maybe there weren’t. But then I moved to the Spirit World and I needed more mortal comforts than tea.”

“Excuse me for a moment.” Korra ran towards the house. Leaf leapt off the table and followed her.

“That little guy’s been attached to Korra all morning,” observed Asami.

“Korra is very happy,” observed Iroh. “I’ve never experienced so much positive energy in the Spirit World, though I haven’t been here as long as my friends.” He gestured to the blue fox and the reindeer-slug who were also watching them play.

“They say that in order to defeat your opponent, you first have to know your opponent. The moves one chooses to make on the board tell us a lot about those we play against.”

Asami moved a piece and looked up, wondering what Iroh was going to tell her about her moves.

“You’re thinking deeply about two people and your Pai Sho opponent isn’t one of them.”

Asami sighed. If Iroh could tell, there was no way to avoid talking about it. In fact, she felt relieved to be able to say something about it.  “The last time I played Pai Sho was with my father.”

“And you have a complicated relationship with him.”

“ _Had._ ”

“I’m sorry.”

“Part of coming on this trip was to get everything off my mind, have a break from it all.”

“My nephew had a very complicated relationship with his father. Even when he was out of sight, Fire Lord Zuko could still sense his influence and became all the better from understanding it.”

“So I should talk about him.”

“With the other person on your mind.”

Iroh turned his head to look towards Korra, who had returned from the bathroom and was riding an airball with Leaf sitting on her shoulder.

“Everything is so beautiful in the spirit world when the Avatar is happy,” observed Asami.

“Everything in this world and the other carries light and darkness. It’s all about finding balance.”

Iroh moved his piece, then took a sip of tea.

“We all carry light and dark in us.  Even in Korra, Vaatu lives inside Raava.”

“Wait, _what?_ ”

“When Korra dispersed Unavaatu’s spiritual energy, Vaatu began to regrow again in Raava. One cannot exist without the other.”

“So you mean -- ?”

“Vaatu is growing inside Raava who is bonded with Korra.”

Iroh noticed the concerned expression on Asami’s face.

“It will be another 9,997 years. I might be a completely different spirit by then – hopefully a thinner one.” He patted his stomach.

 

* * *

 

As they continued playing, Korra and Leaf nearly airballed themselves into a bunch of child-like spirits – a four-legged snail, a winged-catfish, a trio of mushrooms with arms and glowing tops, and a baby koala – that appeared in front of them out of nowhere.

“There you are!” exclaimed the four-legged snail.

Shocked, Korra fell off the airball. Leaf used his leaf ears to hover off of Korra’s shoulder, avoiding the fall completely.

“Guys, you shouldn’t just appear in front of me like that! Someone could’ve gotten hurt!”

“We’re spirits,” said the snail. All the spirits stared at Korra as if this was all the explanation needed.

“Right.” She rubbed the forearm and elbow she had fallen on.

“Are you all right?” asked Leaf.

“Yeah, nothing a little water couldn’t fix. So what brings the rest of you here? Tea?”

“We were looking for Po-Po,” said the snail. “He kept going on about the new spirit portal and he always talks about the Avatar so when we sensed Raava’s energy we knew where to find him.”

Korra turned to an embarrassed Leaf. She wasn’t sure if he was embarrassed by his name or for the snail plainly telling her that Leaf was borderline obsessed with her. “I wanted to know how you created the portal. No Avatar has ever done that before.”

“Well, where to start?” Korra pondered, as the small spirits sat around her. She described the vines in Republic City and how they showed her visions of Kuvira harvesting vines from the Banyan Grove Tree. As she told her story, a fox with very long legs and impossibly cyan eyes arrived and stared at her thoughtfully. When she reached the part about Kuvira’s mech, she stomped around like a giant mecha. She would raise her arm and make a sound effect for the firing of the spirit cannon.

“What’s a dragonfly-hummingbird mechasuit?” asked a spirit.

“It’s a flying mechasuit that was invented by my friend Asami,” replied Korra, pointing towards the inventor. “It could move in any direction.”

“I can move in any direction,” said Leaf.

“But can you move in any direction with a plasma saw?”

“What’s a plasma saw?”

Korra tried to blow her fly-away bangs off her forehead but they fell back into place. Discussing technology was not her strength. The spirits understood bending perfectly so she never had to elaborate on that but none of them had a grasp of technology. “It’s a saw that cuts through platinum.” She looked over at Asami again, watching her deep in thought playing Pai Sho. Then a part of her stomach fell through. She was nearing the part of the story where Hiroshi gave up his life and as she looked at Asami she wondered how much Hiroshi had been on her mind since that day. She had only mentioned Hiroshi to her on the night of Varrick and Zhu Li’s wedding. That couldn’t have been enough. And if they visited the Tree of Time, would it show them Hiroshi’s death? She shuddered at the thought. She let out a huge sigh, collected herself, and continued with the story.

Asami felt that she was being stared at so she turned to look where Korra and the spirits were but by then Korra was again stomping around like a giant mecha. She heard Korra make a whooshing sound as if she was waterbending upward and knew what part of the story she was on. She turned her attention back to the table before she could see what followed. She had to close her eyes and take a deep breath when she heard the spirits react to Korra’s story in horror. The next thing she knew, the fox with the cyan eyes appeared by her side and placed its head under her right hand.

Though it had been his move, Iroh noticed everything that had played out and understood it. “The knowledge-seeker fox is a very wise spirit,” he said, smiling.

The knowledge-seeker fox made a garbled sound as if in agreement and made its way to Iroh’s side. Iroh scratched behind her ears.

Asami looked at the knowledge-seeker fox and then looked at the raggedy blue fox sipping its tea. “If they’re both foxes, why can one talk and the other can’t?”

“I can’t help it,” said the blue fox.

 

* * *

 

The spirits applauded, or, at least, the spirits with hands applauded when Korra reached the end of the story.

“That makes sense if the vines were made with Vaatu’s energy,” concluded the snail-like spirit.

“How is your friend doing?” asked Leaf.

“I…I’m not really sure,” replied Korra.

“Why don’t you know?”

“We didn’t talk too much about it.”

“Do I have to lead her to Toph?”

“No,” said Korra. “Toph isn’t exactly known for her deft touch.”

“Maybe you should--.”

“It’s kind of hard to bring up. This is sort of a vacation.” All the spirits stared at her seriously. “Okay, okay, I’ll say something before this vacation is over.” She searched for an excuse to stop talking about it. “Anyone want cake?”

Korra and the spirits made their way to the table. The Avatar cut small slices of cake for all of them. She poured a cup of tea but found that the tea was now cold. She walked up to Iroh with the cold pot in hand.

“I hate to interrupt your game but the tea has gone cold.”

“We’re almost at the end now,” said Iroh. “Your friend is a strategic thinker but a rather hesitant executioner.”

Asami made a move.

“Or maybe I was wrong about that last part.”

“One of my father’s favorite moves – straight out of his playbook.”

“And now you’re making it your own?”

“Trying it out.”

Korra looked over to Iroh. They must have heard the story she was relaying to the spirits. She wondered if Iroh and Asami had talked more about it.

“You’re a better storyteller than Toph,” said Iroh. He stood up and bowed to Asami. “It’s an honor.” He took the teapot from Korra. “I’ll make some afternoon tea!”

Iroh walked into his house. Korra and Asami reset the pieces on the board.

“So, Asami, these spirits… they think…”

“Yeah?”

“Well… they don’t really understand how technology works. So I thought maybe you could…”

“Oh… Yes… Okay.”

They finished putting all the pieces back and joined the spirits at the table.

“So you have technology questions?”

Immediately, Leaf glared at Korra. Korra shrugged back. Asami noticed none of this because the snail-like spirit piped up with a question.

“How could Kuvira build a mechasuit over 25 stories high that quickly?”

“Slave labor,” replied Asami.

“Humans are mean.”

“Hey,” interjected Korra, “Asami’s a human and she’s the nicest human I know.”

Asami blushed.

“Well, you _are_. And you wouldn’t use slave labor. Or experiment on spirit vines. And I’m very human and you guys like me.”

“But those meerkat-prairie dogs--”

Iroh reappeared with his teapot. “Who would like some jasmine tea? This was the most popular brew back at the Jasmine Dragon.”

With Iroh entertaining the spirits, Korra turned to Asami.

“The _toilet_ , Asami.”

“The toilet?”

“It talks.  It’s a spirit toilet.”

“O-kaaaay…..”

“And, get this, when you get up _… it automatically flushes_!”

Asami put her hand to her mouth to stifle her laugh; it didn’t work.

“Really, you’ve got to try it out.”

“Korra, you relieved yourself in a _spirit_ toilet. What does it even do with…you know...”

The words sunk in, making Korra’s enthusiasm disappear. “Now I feel disturbed. If you want me to earthbend you a hole, let me know.”

“Korra, is there something wrong?” asked Iroh.

“No. No. Everything’s fine.”

Iroh pushed the remaining spirit cake towards her. “Have more cake!”

“Thank you but I’ve had enough for now.”

“I think you’ve already met my friend here.” He patted the knowledge-seeker fox on the head. “She’s one of Wan Shi Tong’s helpers at the Spirit Library. I asked if she could bring us a map but it’s not so easy to sneak material out of there. But she came all this way to help anyway.”

The knowledge-seeker fox let out a garbled assurance and moved to Korra’s side to be petted. Korra cradled the fox’s face in her hands. “Are you going to guide us to where all the amazing things are?”

The fox shook its head and made more garbled speech.

“She’s going to help me draw a map for you!”

Iroh rolled out a piece of parchment and started writing with the fox supervising him.

“I looked at a lot of places before deciding to make this place my home.” He started drawing their current location. “House here. Forest there. This mountain is Hai-Riyo Peak. That’s where the dragon-bird spirit lives. Would you like me to write down those details?”

Korra nodded. Iroh continued.

“Now this here is the Realm of Koh. He’ll steal your faces if you’re not careful so best avoid him completely. Also, the Fog of Lost Souls – don’t go there. And this other place I’m drawing – the spirits there are a little rowdy. Something about the water there. Maybe look into that when you’re not on vacation. Hmm, I think we’ve drawn all the places you shouldn’t go.”

Iroh proceeded to draw Wan Shi Tong’s Library, Xai Bao’s Grove, an open prairie, a plain of jagged rocks, a large body of water, the Northern and Southern Spirit Portals with the Tree of Time between them. The fox seemed to direct him to draw the new spirit portal. “Oh, so that’s where it is!” exclaimed Iroh. The fox also insisted on Iroh drawing out a river and a waterfall. “How could I forget that! There’s an interesting cave filled with beautiful gems near there.”

The fox turned to him and let out an enthusiastic high-pitched bark.

“Yes, yes, I think they may like it there.” Iroh put his pen down and pushed the map towards Korra and Asami. “I think this has what you’re looking for.”

“Thank you.”

The fox stood on her hind legs and put her paw on part of the map and enthusiastically barked at Korra and Asami.

“Thank you too, foxy helper spirit.”

The fox moved back and sat on the ground nearby, looking immensely proud of herself.

 

* * *

 

They briefly pored over the map together, prioritizing the sites they wanted to visit.  As they sat there, more spirits came to visit them at Iroh’s. Some wanted to meet the Avatar. Others heard stories about her and wanted to confirm that what they heard was true.

As the day went on, Asami found herself feeling a little put off by all the spirits. Though some had human or technology questions for her, most seemed interested in being near the Avatar. They wanted to see displays of bending or hear the story of the Battle of Republic City and while Korra was gracious enough to repeatedly entertain them on that last part, Asami didn’t really want to hear it. Iroh claimed that the spirits were likely drawn by the Avatar’s positive energy and Asami couldn’t really complain about that. She herself was drawn to Korra, positive energy or not.

She passed the time by taking out a sketchbook and drawing. She drew Iroh’s house, Hai-Riyo Peak, a carrot spirit with the dragonfly-bunny spirits chasing him. She even drafted out the designs for a self-flushing toilet. Those already existed in the material world but she was never really satisfied with them so set out to make an improved design. When the light began to dim, a thoughtful glowing mushroom spirit sat next to her to provide her with light. The knowledge-seeker fox also kept her company through most of that afternoon and early evening.

When it got late enough that the stars were clearly visible in the sky, Iroh approached Asami with pillows and blankets. “I brought these if you’d like to camp out under the stars again. I could also prepare something for you inside.”

Asami took the pillows and blankets from Iroh. “Thank you. These are already more than enough.”

She set the blankets on the ground, evening them out, wondering if they were simple blankets or special spirit blankets that she would feel awkward about in the morning. But it was a long day and she didn’t care so much about the awkwardness. When she was done, she lay herself down, the knowledge-seeker fox still keeping her company.

Not long after, Korra joined her, spirits following in her wake. “Guys, I’m tired,” she said to them. Though on the blanket, she couldn’t get too close to Asami. The childlike spirits nestled themselves close to her. Leaf perched himself on Korra’s chest. Another spirit nearly covered Korra’s face but the Avatar wiggled it off. It was hard to breathe with it there.

She turned her head slightly so that she could look at Asami who was trying to sleep but couldn’t help betraying her frustrated feelings. No spirits were climbing over her but the knowledge-seeker fox had curled itself up near her. Korra wasn’t the only one with a spirit friend.

Working against the weight of the spirits perched all over her, Korra moved her arm and placed her hand near where Asami could hold onto it. Asami saw her do this and reached for the hand and caressed it gently before holding onto it firmly. They stared into each other’s eyes and before they knew it, both had fallen asleep.


	4. Everything in Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Korra and Asami are more adventurous with the spirits and become intimate in the Tree of Time…but not in that way.

_Flush. Whirl. Swish._

Asami awoke and sat up with enough of a start that the knowledge-seeker fox leapt onto its feet. Asami felt the blanket she had laid under herself and sighed in relief when she found that nothing was wet. The last thing she had dreamt about was a toilet.

She looked over towards Korra and saw that the Avatar and all the spirits were still asleep. They looked to be content and peaceful. Perhaps they were in the middle of happy dreams. She wondered if she herself had looked like that on the two prior nights.

Asami felt a little guilty for feeling as frustrated as she did. She knew that the Avatar belonged to the whole world and that this was something she would have to deal with. From time to time, she had imagined ways in which they could work through the world together. But it hadn’t crossed her mind that the Spirit World would be part of that and, despite all the infrastructure work she accomplished in Republic City with the spirit vines, Asami felt she was out of her depth there.

She had felt particularly aggrieved by Leaf but that was unwarranted. After all, Leaf chased down Korra in the physical world and led her to the swamp and to Toph.  Toph taught Korra how to see using the vines and helped Korra get the residual poison out of her body. Leaf was very important to the fate of the world.

And there was the fact that she herself had chosen the Spirit World for this vacation. She could have chosen Ember Island or Whaletail Island or, really, any island that existed on the other side of the spirit portals. But, no, she chose the Spirit World. She had always wanted to see what it was like. It felt like everyone had been there but her. And who better to go with than the Avatar?

She stood up and walked over to Iroh’s house. She could see smoke in the chimney which showed that Iroh must have had a stove going. A couple of spirits from the previous morning were already milling about, waiting for Iroh to appear but Asami wasn’t going to wait. She knocked on the door and, finding the door unlocked, entered.

“Good morning, Asami,” said Iroh from his stove. Asami could see a cabinet nearby full of labeled tea jars. “I’m just preparing the tea for my regulars.”

“It’s all right, General Iroh. I’m here to check out your bathroom.”

“Ah, yes. Feel free to use it.”

“I wasn’t aware that spirits needed bathrooms.”

“We don’t. We don’t need to eat or drink either. But it’s more fun and helps pass the time in the Spirit World!”

“So you have a bathroom for fun?”

“That’s one way of looking at it. It’s the first door on your right.”

Just outside the bathroom door, Asami noticed a number of musical instruments hanging on the wall nearby. She could make out a flute, an erhu, and a liuqin. A tsungi horn was sitting on a nearby table. She took a deep breath and opened the door. To her surprise, the bathroom looked completely normal. There was a sink with a mirror, a tub with a shower fixture above it and the toilet.

She walked over to the toilet and stared at it for a moment. There was an opening and water inside. But there was no handle.

“In the physical world, toilets have handles,” she said aloud.

“Oops, sorry,” said the toilet in a sonorous tenor voice. It then tried to morph part its body into a handle but it wasn’t working out. “This part is challenging,” it said, struggling. Asami was relieved that its mouth was located where the tank would normally be and was not the bowl.

“This isn’t what you really look like, right?”

“No.”

“Why are you pretending to be a bathroom toilet?”

“It’s all a part of my method.” The water in the bowl swirled and disappeared. The toilet morphed into a white globular spirit with translucent eyes and a huge mouth. He sat on two hind legs and two front paws. He was careful to turn off a water faucet that was located behind him.

He tapped on the nearby tub with a paw. “Me too?” it asked in a rich baritone. Then it proceeded to morph into almost an exact copy of the toilet spirit.

“I know this is a very strange question but when the Avatar was in here and, um, used you, what did you do with…”

“What do you take us for? Gossipy dragonfly-bunny spirits?” The former toilet spirit then morphed into a dragonfly-bunny spirit.

“No. Sorry. I… Spirits don’t need toilets. So…how…”

“Oh, I just open up a deep hole and let the ground deal with it. That’s what you want to know, isn’t it? That’s how I heard they work. Then Iroh would throw things at me and I would _flush_ them.” He turned to his friend. “I should have garbly chirped that, huh?” He then tried to make cute gargling noises.

The tub spirit rolled its eyes and turned to Asami. “Lots of spirit cakes in the ground. So much cake,” he moaned, seemingly mourning all the cakes that were lost to his friend’s method acting. “Name’s Tomo, by the way.” He grinned widely.

“Nice to meet you, Tomo. My name’s Asami. Do you ever get out of this room?”

The former toilet spirit morphed back into a globular cat-pawed spirit. “Why would we want to? If you didn't notice, the acoustics in here are amazing.” He started to warm up by singing some scales.

“Acoustics? That’s why you stay in here?”

“If you spontaneously break into song in front of other spirits they all look at you funny,” said Tomo.

His friend started singing a song about a baby-dragon bird:

_Baby dragon-bird, far from your nest  
How did you end up here, deep in the forest_

Tomo joined in, singing in harmony with his friend. Asami was impressed. They were very good and the song was cute. It told the story of a lost baby dragon-bird flying around the spirit world looking for three other baby dragon-birds, then the four joining together to form one giant dragon-bird. She would have thought it bizarre if Korra hadn’t mentioned it to her the other day. When they finished their song, they looked to Asami for affirmation.

Asami smiled. “That was very good.  You should come out and have tea with the rest of us. And it’s good for the vocal cords.”

“What are vocal cords?” asked Tomo.

\---

When Asami shut the door behind her, Tomo and his friend were still practicing their harmonies.  Iroh was pouring hot water into two pots.

“Rong and Tomo make such beautiful music.”

“They’re an _interesting_ pair.”

“You should hear them accompanied by tsungi horn! But I think you have other plans for today.”

“Let me help you with that.”

Asami picked up one of the pots and held the door as Iroh carried his tray out to his awaiting patrons.

As happened the previous morning, Iroh turned over a row of cups and poured a strong black tea into them. As each spirit finished, they bowed to Iroh in thanks and went on their way.

Asami carried the other pot to the table. Korra and the child-like spirits were already seated around it. A pretty arrangement of deep red flowers was sitting at the center.

“Those are beautiful flowers,” commented Asami as she poured tea for those assembled.

“Thank you,” said the flowers, sparkling.

Asami chuckled to herself. This did not surprise her at all. She was almost expecting this.

“Leaf wanted to pick some flowers this morning,” said Korra. “They were blue earlier but I mentioned that you might like red.”

“I like both.”

At that, the flowers changed to a mixed arrangement of red and blue.

When he was done with his regular customers, Iroh joined them.

“I am so happy that you came to visit me.”

“It was great seeing you again, Iroh.”

“It was lovely meeting you. Thank you for everything.”

“Please pack up some cake for the rest of your trip. Do you know where you’re going next?”

Korra shrugged but Asami piped up.

“I think I want to see this famous Tree of Time, see where Wan and Raava defeated Vaatu. Also, because it feels like everyone else has already been there.” She was smiling warmly when she said it.

Korra couldn’t help but feel that something else was going on here. First, there was the choice. She knew it had the potential to show them visions and knew that Asami had been thinking about Hiroshi. Also, Asami had left out other details about the Tree of Time. It was a place where Korra had connected to her own inner spirit but Asami had left that part out.

But when Asami turned to her with that warm smile, all Korra could do was smile back. “The Tree of Time it is!”

\---

They waved farewell to Iroh and their spirit friends and walked in the general direction of the Tree of Time. The field in front of them was full of flightless bird spirits that bounced about.

“We don’t have to walk the whole way. If I ask, I think these bouncy bird spirits can help us out.”

She turned to look at Asami but saw that her friend was staring up at Hai-Riyo Peak.

“Asami, the Tree of Time is that way,” Korra said, pointing through an open field.

“You found it by riding a dragon-bird, right?”

“Yes, but…oh, I see.”

“It sounded fun. And we could get a good lay of the land from high up above, even before we get to the nest.”

“All right then. Hai-Riyo Peak it is!” She rolled up the map and handed it to Asami. “You know, the last time I was here I had a little help from some guardian spirits getting up the mountain. I think they’d be more comfortable by these extra bouncy bird things.”

Korra put her hand up like a visor and scanned the distance, looking for hint of the guardian spirits. She then put her hands to her mouth and hollered, “Hey, guardian spirits! A little help here? Please?”

A little translucent yellow puffball spirit hovered in front of her.

“Oh, could you help me out? Could you get the guardian spirits to help us up the mountain?”

The little translucent yellow puffball took off towards Hai-Riyo Peak.

“It’s worth a shot,” said the Avatar.  She re-hitched her backpack firmly on her shoulders and started walking up the path leading to the baby dragon-bird nest.

On their way, Asami told Korra about her experience with Rong and Tomo, with the Avatar a little envious that Asami was able to get a song from the spirits. Korra told Asami about May-Jim’s wedding and why Leaf’s comments to her the other day amused her so much.

“So they were co-joined.”

“Yes.”

“And one of them was female and the other male?”

“May-Jim? I think so. Or, I don’t know. Maybe with all the shapeshifting they can change what they are. Or, really, I don’t know if spirits even have genders. What does it matter, really?” She paused for a moment as a deep thought set in. “Wow, there’s really a lot I don’t know.”

The little translucent yellow puffball reappeared in front of Korra, behaving a little more animated than it had before. Shortly after, three friendly guardian spirits descended down the mountain towards them. On seeing Korra and Asami, one of them stopped and had to be pushed forward by the other two.

“I that’s the one that nearly chewed me to death,” said Korra plainly.

 _“What?!”_ exclaimed Asami. “You called a spirit that nearly killed you?”

Korra shrugged. “Well, he was under Unalaq and Vaatu’s influence at the time. You saw how the spirits were acting at that time. I think he feels guilty.”

Sure enough, as they were mere footsteps away, the other two guardian spirits had to push the third forward towards the Avatar. It was noticeably anxious and kept its head down and tried to avoid eye contact. Korra put her arms around to hug as much of its face as possible.

“It’s okay. I forgive you.” She rubbed a hand on its cheek in an effort to calm it down. It lifted its eyes to look at the Avatar, then gave her a sloppy yet affectionate lick. At that, the two other spirits joined in the licking. Korra began laughing; the grossness of their affection was a little overwhelming.

For Asami, the scene was overwhelming in a different way. One, it’s quite something to see someone have a rapport with three, ginormous, muscular lion-like spirits and not get trampled to death by them. On the other, forgiving a being that tried to kill you was something she could relate to.

As Korra wiped guardian spirit slobber from her face with her sleeve, the one that had tried to kill her got low to the ground in front of her.

“Don’t mind if I do.”

Korra climbed onto the back of the Guardian Spirit. Asami made to join her but Korra put her hand out to stop her. Another Guardian Spirit got low to the ground to let Asami on. The other spirit nudged her in the back.

“You get your own.”

Asami climbed onto the other spirit.

They rode the guardian spirits up the mountain towards the dragon-bird’s nest. Asami’s spirit seemed to climb with a bit more gusto than the other two. As Korra watched them put more distance on her, she wondered briefly if the spirit knew that Asami liked racing and if that was why it was putting in more effort than the other two.

Asami was still sitting on her spirit when Korra’s guardian spirit finally caught up with them at the nest.

“Been waiting long?”

“Only three minutes.”

Korra hopped off her guardian spirit and airbent a cushion for her landing. Asami slid down the side of hers. They approached the dragon-bird nest together.

“One, two, three, four. Four baby dragon-birds,” counted Korra. “We’re not missing any.” Three of the baby dragon-birds playfully hopped onto Korra’s arms and shoulders. One scurried up to her neck and nuzzled her there. “Yes, yes, it’s nice seeing you again.”

The fourth baby dragon-bird slowly approached Asami. Asami got down on her knee, and gently petted the dragon-bird on its feathery cheek. She slung her rucksack around to her front, reached in, and took out a piece of spirit cake and offered it to the baby dragon-bird, at which point the three other dragon-birds flocked over to her.

Korra watched on admiringly as the baby dragon-birds gobbled up portions of spirit cake.

“They sure like you.”

“They like cake,” said Asami. After eating their portions, the baby dragon-birds flocked all about her, rubbing their heads against her, requesting petting.

“Hey guys, I’m the Avatar.”

The baby dragon-birds turned to look at Korra, but then returned to nuzzling against Asami.

“I think maybe you should ask them, since they like you so much now.”

“Okay.” Asami cleared her throat. “Baby dragon-birds, could you help the Avatar and me get to the Tree of Time…and maybe show us some sights along the way?”

The baby dragon-birds hopped off of Asami and turned into a shiny, pinkish-red form before morphing into a majestic golden dragon-bird. It craned its neck down so Korra and Asami could get on. Korra gestured for Asami’s bag.

“You should ride in front.”

“You’re shorter.”

“You haven’t seen the Spirit World like this yet. I have.”

Asami handed her bag over. Korra slung her own on her shoulder and put the full rucksack on, then hopped behind Asami onto the dragon-bird.

They flew over rocky expanses and verdant fields. They were able to pick out locations that Iroh had drawn on the map. When they passed over the Fog of Lost Souls, Asami could feel Korra’s grip tighten on her, as if making sure she wasn’t going to fall in. They were able to trace a path of a river leading to a waterfall. They noticed an area where spirits seemed to behave as though they were high on cactus juice.

But the most curious sight on their way to the Tree of Time was that of a man with a mass of greying hair seated in the lotus position, meditating in an autumnal setting.

“Zaheer meditates into the Spirit World to meditate?”

“The man flies. He’s really dedicated.”

Soon they could see the northern and southern spirit portals in the distance.

“The Tree of Time is between those two portals.”

The dragon-bird landed near the southern portal and let them off.

“Thanks again, friend,” said Korra, patting the dragon-bird’s face before it took off and flew away.

Korra handed Asami her bag.

As Asami strapped her bag back on, she gestured at the Tree of Time with her head and asked, “So how does this work?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” admitted the Avatar. “The first time I entered the Tree of Time I saw all sorts of visions.”

“What kind of visions?”

“Scenes from my life. The time the White Lotus found out I was the Avatar. Probending matches. Everything you can think of.”

“ _Personal_ things?” asked Asami hesitantly.

It occurred to Korra that maybe there were things that Asami wanted to keep to herself -- things she wasn’t willing to share. She attempted to defuse the situation with humor. “I was wearing clothes in all of them, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

Asami laughed.  “No, I hadn’t thought of _that!_ But that’s good to know.” After the words left her mouth, Asami felt that she wanted to take back the “ _good to know”_ part.

“If you want to go up alone to check it out for yourself, I’ll understand,” reassured the Avatar.

“Korra, I didn’t come on this vacation _with you_ to be alone.”

They stopped a few yards from the foot of the tree and their eyes met. They were both smiling warmly and borderline blushing. There was a space between them that needed to be filled. But they just stood there, Korra content just to stare at Asami, and Asami starting to feel a little uneasy with the silence.

“So if we go in there _together_ , will we see scenes from your life, or scenes from my life…or scenes from _both_ our lives?”

“I don’t know. When I was in there a few months ago, I didn’t see anything.”

“So it’s possible we can get all the way up there and see nothing at all,” contemplated Asami.

“Well, you’ll see inside a very important and revered tree, where Vaatu spent 10,000 years in captivity. And, before that, the ancients used it to connect to the cosmic energy of the universe. It’s historic!...and stuff,” enthused Korra.

Asami smiled.  “Well, there's always that.”

“I’m almost as good as Ryu at this tour guide thing, huh.”

“At least you don’t have to read off cards.  And your airbending is pretty good.”

_“Hey!”_

“See how that feels.”

Korra began to move her arms in circular motions, bending the air so that it was swirling around them.

Asami shot Korra a mischievous look. “Like I said, _‘Pretty good.’_ ”

Korra exchanged a similar look and held her arm out and, with no beckoning necessary, Asami latched onto her with both arms. Korra redirected the swirling air to propel them towards the opening of the Tree. As they closed in, Korra created a small pocket of air under their feet and they landed softly just outside the opening.

With one eyebrow raised, their faces close, and Asami’s arms still around her, Korra asked slyly, _“Pretty good?”_

Asami tried to lean in but Korra coughed, blushed, turned her head slightly away slightly, and gently ushered Asami into the Tree of Time. “Yes, and this is the place where I meditated and connected with my inner spirit, and became a giant blue spirit.”

Faint visions started popping up around them and quickly grew in intensity. All over, image after image of their lives played out.

“That’s me taking self-defense classes and that’s Naga as a cub-puppy. Is that what you're seeing?” asked Asami.

“And more!”

It was hard to see through all the visions. There were too many of them and they were cycling quickly. Both of them sat down and closed their eyes until they could feel the brightness settle down. When they opened their eyes a couple of minutes later, there was just one scene being projected in front of them.

It was the pro-bending arena in Republic City.

“My first match!” exclaimed Korra excitedly, before then suddenly wincing as they watched her younger self illegally waterbend an opponent off the side of the platform.

Asami laughed. “This was the first time I ever saw you in action.”

“Not a great first impression then?”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

They watched Korra alone at the edge of the platform performing circular movements to avoid getting knocked off the platform.

“I know _now_ that you’re doing airbender moves there. Before then, I’d never seen anyone move like that. I thought you were amazing.”

_“Thought?”_

“I don’t think _‘amazing’_ is enough to describe you anymore.”

Korra blushed. “These must all be your memories then.”

There were more scenes in front of them playing at the same time. A lot of them involved Asami hanging out with Mako but mostly Mako talking. Asami knew why these scenes were flashing in front of them but knew that they must be confusing Korra and, sure enough, when she glanced at her companion she saw a quizzical look on the Avatar’s face.

“He talked about you a lot. Didn’t realize what that meant at the time.” She said, a little too wistfully, “I was so caught up in dating an attractive pro-bender. I thought we had so much in common.”

“I know that feeling.”

Asami looked at Korra. “I still know that feeling.”

“You mean the pro-bender part or the ‘having so much –‘”

Asami patted her on the back and directed her to a scene to their left.

“That's when we met!”

It was a scene from the gala that Tarrlok had thrown for the Avatar.  On seeing Hiroshi, she turned to see Asami’s reaction to seeing her father, but instead she saw her laugh.

“Wow, that glare,” laughed Asami. She mimicked Korra’s expression from their meeting.

“I don’t know if it’s scary or seductive when you do it.”

Asami glared harder.

Korra turned to look at the visions. “There must be something to embarrass you here. There!” She pointed to a scene in the periphery where Asami was catching a faceful of baby sky bison fur.

“Seriously, Korra?”

“Seriously, Asami, how are you still alive?”

Near the baby sky bison vision were a collection of scenes where Asami crashed vehicles.

“Even as a child!”

There was a scene of a young Asami riding a go-cart aggressively around a curve and crashing into some carefully-placed hay.

“How many times did you fail before you picked up a skill? I learned a lot about navigating around curves and braking that day.” She redirected Korra’s attention to a more prominent scene of her launching her Satomobile at a mechatank. “And my car took one for the Team Avatar there! And besides that…”

The very next scene showed them at the racetrack. “You had a good time.”

“So did you. Smirking over there! Hotshot driver!”

“Well, I can’t impress a waterbender with a pool party, can I.” At that moment, Asami’s cheerful demeanor faded. “To think that’s the day when everything changed.”

Korra expected the tree to show them more visions from that day and the ones that followed but the scenes given provenance were from much earlier times, before Korra even knew there was a Satomobile or a Republic City.

A familiar yet unfamiliar figure appeared before them. She was elegant and cheerful and with her was a younger, happier Hiroshi Sato.

“You look so much like her,” observed Korra.  “Even your hair now.”

Without even thinking, Asami wrapped her arms around Korra’s arm and leaned against her for comfort. When Asami spoke, there wasn’t any sadness or resignation in her voice. There was a warm gentleness.

“I only had six years with my mom.”

Scenes played out that Asami would have been too young to remember.

“You had perfect hair even back then.”

“Old Fire Nation genetics.” As she said that, the scene changed to Asami’s mother brushing her hair. “And mom’s loving care.”

Another scene played out where Hiroshi gifted his wife a makeup set. Young Asami was staring at it in wonder.

“So that’s where that comes from!”

There was a scene of the family riding in an open-top Satomobile and picnicking in the mountains overlooking Republic City.

“He wanted to show us Future Industries Tower from afar.”

And then came a scene from when Asami was around six years old. Hiroshi is holding a miniature prototype and enthusiastically explaining it to his wife and daughter. When he finishes, he hands the prototype to Asami who starts methodically taking it apart, and is glomped by his wife who congratulates him.

Asami’s expression turned somber. She removed her grip on Korra and sat up. “No, this was the day when everything changed.”

The Tree of Time didn’t show her mother’s death or anyone grieving it. It just chose memories of just Hiroshi and Asami together, the former trying his best to keep his grief from his daughter. But for all his success, there was something different about Hiroshi in these scenes.

“He didn’t need Vaatu to take the light away from his life.”

There was a scene of Hiroshi going over a hydraulic lift design.

“That’s actually an important component on mechatanks. He used them in some elevators too. But back then he was already drafting mechatanks, underground tunnels, and shock gloves.”

“How do you know when he started?”

“Some of his old schematics were found in an Equalist hideout. They had dates on them.”

“Do we need to step out?”

“It’s OK. I think the Tree of Time thinks I need to see this.”

Korra put a comforting arm around Asami and invited her to lean in again.

“It’s strange to think that his plans involved destroying you.”

“And here we are.”

They watched a scene of Hiroshi driving with a young Asami sitting in his lap and holding the wheel. Hiroshi working the pedals with one hand carefully holding the wheel below where Asami could have noticed.

It was hard to see from scenes like this that Hiroshi would ever try to kill his daughter. But the fact was that he became so consumed with hatred of benders that he did try. Korra knew what it was like being lied to by her father, but she could never imagine Tonraq ever trying to kill her. People like Kuvira, Zaheer, and even her own uncle Unalaq were not even comparable.

And Hiroshi was Asami’s only remaining family.

“I’m sorry you had to work through this on your own.”

“Some things you have to work through on your own. Isn’t that why you disappeared for six months?”

“And still a spirit had to find me and lead me to help. And the things we’ve gone through aren’t the same. And when I was poisoned…” She paused for a moment and took a deep breath. “…when I thought Zaheer had killed my father and was in the Avatar State, I thought I could have killed them all.”

“For a brief moment, I thought about… with the mechatank in the airfield hangar. But I couldn’t. And then he still went for me. And then even after four years, I wanted to hurt him, with words...but I couldn't stay mad at him.”

Asami wasn’t even looking up. She was leaning in to Korra’s shoulder. Korra did look up and she saw an image of Asami sitting alone in front of the statue in Avatar Korra Park.

“You don’t have to sort through these things by yourself. I’m here for you…and I’m not going to disappear again. Or, if I do disappear, I probably got kidnapped…again. Because, you know, these things happen to me.”

“You’re the Avatar. I’ve gotta deal with it.”

_“Hey!”_

Asami pointed up towards an image of a 4-year-old Korra freakishly bending three elements and wildly setting things on fire. “You were adorable. And _frightening_.”

“You’re supposed to master the elements in the order of the Avatar cycle. I liked fire a little too much.”

They kept watching and saw young Korra finding a polar-bear dog cub alone in the snow.

“She was all alone.  I couldn't leave her. Maybe if I was older I would’ve thought twice about picking up a polar-bear dog.”

“Animals and spirits like you.”

“I think it’s Raava’s spirit.”

“I'm not sitting here, next to you, because of Raava.”

“You kind of are. We never would have met if Raava wasn't bonded to me. I'd just be some girl living in the Southern Water Tribe doing Southern Water Tribe things. Why would I ever run away to Republic City? And what about these spirit portals?”

“Even with all that, I also had to hit Mako with my scooter.”

“We still would have met at Tarrlok’s gala.”

“It wouldn’t have been the same.” Asami sat up on her own and again mimicked Korra’s glare from the first time they met.

“It’s adorable when you do it.”

“Because you know I don’t mean it.”

“If the Tree of Time taught me anything today, it’s that you don’t have it in you.”

The visions started to fade out.

“So the Tree of Time doesn’t show the future,” observed Asami.

“Was there something you wanted to know, in particular?”

“There are lots of things I’d like to learn.” She got up and looked out the opening. “But I think we have to go out there to find out.”

Korra got up and together they walked to the opening, the scenes of their lives fading away in a soft blue light with every step they took.


	5. Hero of the South

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Korra and Asami meet a young water tribe couple and a little boy named ‘Nuktuk’.

Korra put a little extra effort into her airbending on their way down from the Tree of Time. She wasn’t much for aesthetics herself but she wanted everything to look and feel perfect. It was the softest landing Korra had ever created. Asami’s arms were wrapped around her shoulder. Her hand was firmly on Asami’s waist. The air was still lightly swirling around them. It was the perfect moment.

Except it wasn’t. Korra could hear a familiar sound coming from the Southern Spirit Portal quickly followed by the panicked bleats of an arctic camel-yak. Instinctively, she pushed Asami away. Asami appeared shocked for a moment, but turned her head to see where the Avatar was looking.

They had gotten used to the idea of spirits being all around them but now they had human company. And an arctic camel-yak. And now they saw a snowmobile just pop through the portal and beach itself on some rocks.

“I think they may need our help,” said Korra. They exchanged looks and started towards the Southern Spirit Portal.

From a distance, they can see a man trying to calm down the wildly-bleating camel-yak. On the snowmobile was a young woman. She was checking on a boy sitting in the snowmobile’s sidecar when the boy suddenly leapt to his feet and pointed towards Korra and Asami.

“The Avatar!” they could hear the boy scream in excitement. And with that he hopped out of the sidecar and started running towards Korra. The woman quickly tried to follow him but in her haste tripped over the side of the off-balance snowmobile. The man abandoned the now calm camel-yak and attended to her.

When the boy passed a stream, he bended some of the water into ice and used it to slide towards the Avatar. His form was poor, it was a pretty reckless thing to do, and yet he was frighteningly powerful in his ability. He probably never had a formal teacher. He also couldn’t have been much older than five. Korra was concerned that he might hurt himself, or her, or Asami so she airbent an air cyclone to catch him.

The kid thought it was the most amazing thing and was having the time of his life in the cyclone.

“You’re the Avatar!”

“Yes, but you can call me ‘Korra’.” She stopped the cyclone and caught the boy in her arms.  “And what’s your name, little cutie?”

“Nuktuk.”

“That…that’s an interesting name,” she responded awkwardly. “That’s the same name as the ‘Hero of the South’, right?”

“He fights for friends and freedom!” said the kid enthusiastically.

 _“He's the biggest, baddest, bendingest man I know,”_ piped up Asami in a sing-song voice.

Korra wasn’t sure what surprised her more: the kid’s name or Asami being this well-versed with Varrick’s Nuktuk mover series.

Asami met Korra’s astonished look. “What? It’s a catchy tune.” She turned to the little boy, “Besides, Nuktuk’s a friend of mine.”

“You know Nuktuk?” said the child, wide-eyed.

“Juji and Roh-Tan too,” added Asami in the way a cool kid tries to impress another cool kid.

And it worked. Nuktuk’s attention was now entirely on Asami. The waterbending boy from the Southern Water Tribe gaped in astonishment over Asami claiming a fictional character as a friend, rather than being in awe of the Avatar who saved the world from 10,000 years of darkness. Korra was amused but she wasn’t going to stand for this much longer.

“So Nuktuk, who taught you the waterbending moves?”

“My parents.” He pointed to the man and the woman at the snowmobile.

“So your parents are waterbenders too?”

“No.”

That explained things. Korra set Nuktuk on the ground and knelt in front of him. “What do you say I ask your parents if I can teach you some waterbending forms?”

Nuktuk’s eyes lit up even more. He grabbed Korra’s hand and started pulling her towards his parents.

Korra shot a look of victory at Asami.

“I keep losing guys to the waterbender girl,” muttered Asami jokingly.

Korra stifled a laugh.

The three of them made their way to Nuktuk’s parents. The camel-yak was fine but the snowmobile was unbalanced, beached on some rocks, and Nuktuk’s mom seemed to be injured. Nuktuk’s father helped his mother onto her feet but they could see she was hobbling a little. The man was about the same height as Asami and the woman a couple of inches shorter. They were both fairly young and uniquely attractive. Korra looked at the husband and the wife wondering which of the two first came up with the idea of naming their child “Nuktuk”.

“Avatar Korra.” The couple bowed as they said it.

Even Nuktuk bowed his head.

Korra bowed politely back. Nuktuk spoke before she could say anything.

“The Avatar wants to teach me waterbending!”

Korra grinned. “Yes, what Nuktuk said, if that’s okay with you.”

The couple were surprised. They looked at each other, then back at the Avatar. “Wow,” said the husband, “you honor us with this great kindness.”

From what she had been through the past few weeks, Korra found their formality very alien. “Yeah, it’s just some basic forms and things.” She looked down at the mother’s ankle. “Are you hurt?”

“Oh, I think I just rolled it. It happens,” said the mother.

“Let me help you. I’m a healer.”

The husband helped his wife sit on the ground and everyone knelt down near her.  Korra gently unlaced the woman’s boot, bent some water out of a nearby stream, and started using her healing powers on the ankle.

“Let me know if anything hurts…, what’s your name again?”

“Oh, I’m Kunik. And this is my husband, Irniq. And you know Nuktuk already.”

“Yes. And you can just call me ‘Korra.’ And this is my friend, Asami.” She looked towards Asami, who didn’t look entirely pleased by the introduction. “My _best friend_ , Asami.”

Asami tried hard not to playfully roll her eyes at that.

Kunik looked back and forth between Korra and Asami, before staring at Asami a bit too long.

“What made you take a camel-yak and a snowmobile?” asked Asami to cut through the awkwardness.

“We couldn’t agree on what would be better so we took both! Turns out the camel-yak was probably better, what with there being no snow in the Spirit World.”

“Well, not in this part of the Spirit World,” said the Avatar. “I think that should’ve done it. Want to try standing?”

She helped Kunik onto her feet. Kunik took a few paces. “That’s some fantastic healing.”

“Thank you,” said Irniq.

“It’s what I do. Now, about that snowmobile.  Step back a bit.”  Korra used her metalbending to move the snowmobile to level ground. Nuktuk clapped in excitement.

“He’s never seen metalbending before,” explained Irniq.

Asami bent down to inspect the snowmobile.

“It's all right. You don't have to do that,” said Irniq.

“She enjoys this,” said the Avatar.

“So does my wife,” said Irniq.

A look of dread appeared on Asami’s face. “No, it can’t be.”

“What’s wrong?” asked Korra.

Asami pointed towards an emblem on the body of the snowmobile.

“Oh, I know what you’re thinking,” said a bubbly Kunik, who was now pulling some tools out of the sidecar. She stood next to Asami and tapped the emblem. “It’s just the outside. The Cabbage Corp metal is thinner and lighter which makes the snowmobile more fuel-efficient. But the inside…” she quickly undid some latches, disconnected a couple of hoses and lifted up the hood. “See, it’s mostly Varrick Global Industries parts. I’ve replaced some bits from compatible Future Industries components. But it’s hard to find a broken down Satomobiles to raid parts from. You must know that, being a Satomobile enthusiast and all.” Kunik pointed to the Future Industries logo on Asami’s jacket.

Irniq leaned over to Korra and quietly whispered, “She’s just showing off now.”

Korra whispered back, “She doesn’t know.”

“Know what?”

Asami was amused that Kunik had no idea who she was. She smiled awkwardly. “Yeah… _enthusiast_.”

The realization hit Kunik. She facepalmed in embarrassment. “You’re Asami Sato, CEO of Future Industries. I thought you looked familiar!" She looked back at her snowmobile, "Wow, this must look like junk to you now.”

“No, it’s actually pretty interesting. You built this out of scrap?”

“Pretty much.”

“I’m impressed.”

Kunik’s expression lit up.

“You know, Asami built a sandsailer in the desert out of a Cabbage Corp airship wreck,” said Korra.

“But it fell apart once we got to safety,” added Asami.

“Well, if it was 100% made out of Cabbage Corp parts, then of course it would fall apart!” threw in Kunik.

Both of them laughed at that, Kunik a lot harder than Asami. She had to brush tears of laughter from her eyes and said out loud, but primarily for herself, “What rubbish!” She rummaged through the sidecar and took out some sort of motorized tread attachment for her snowmobile. “Now let me rig something up to get us out of this mess. This rocky ground will ruin the blades if I don’t get these on.”

“I’ll help,” offered Asami.

Korra leaned in to Irniq again. “Should I remind them that I’m the Avatar and that there’s a stream nearby and I can use my waterbending to create snow between the portals?”

“No. Why would you want to spoil this? It’s so rare for Kunik to have another woman to talk to about inventing and machines.”

It wasn’t just Kunik who seemed to be enjoying the moment but Asami as well. It was clear to Korra that Irniq had very little understanding of machines but enjoyed watching his wife’s enthusiasm. Korra wondered if she ever had the same goofy look while watching Asami work with machinery, or, really, anything that Asami did.

Nuktuk tugged on Korra’s skirt. “I thought you were gonna teach me some waterbending!”

“Oh yeah. Let’s get to work near the Northern Portal.”

“Dad, come watch me waterbend.”

“Oh, yes. Okay, son.”

They started walking to the Northern Portal. The calm arctic camel-yak followed Irniq on its own accord.

“So you’re from the South?”

“Yes. Well, I’m from the South. Kunik is actually from the North.”

“That’s like my parents. Though my dad was banished from the North. I doubt Kunik was.”

“She’s a non-bender from a family full of master waterbenders. It was hard for her – others treating her like a bending failure and her family not knowing exactly how to support her. Couldn’t get any further from that than the other side of the world where she wouldn’t be constantly reminded of it. But Nuktuk! Kunik thinks that he has double the power he should have at his age. We’re going North to get her family’s advice on waterbending instruction.” For a moment, it felt like Irniq was going to add more to that but he stopped himself. Korra sensed that waterbending instruction advice wasn’t the only motivation for this trip. She steered the conversation in a different direction.

“Nuktuk is very strong for someone his age.”

Nuktuk flexed his bicep and let out a little growl that was completely unexpected.

“And let me guess. You’re a fisherman.”

“Do I smell?” asked Irniq, looking affronted.

“No. You just…”

“I _am_ a fisherman,” he said, smiling. He had been teasing her. “I used to make a living being a big game hunter but hunting isn’t as lucrative as it was three years ago.”

“Oh? What happened?”

“The market for exotic meats dropped once the Earth Queen was assassinated.”

“Oh, sorry about that.”

“Nothing to feel sorry about. Being a fisherman keeps me at the port more. It’s easier to go home and help out with Nuktuk.”

“If you’re familiar with ships, why didn’t you take a ship to the North? It would’ve been much easier.”

“Where’s the adventure in that? And I always wanted to see what the Spirit World is like?”

“So what do you think?”

“Very colorful.” They paused and looked up into the sky. Numerous spirits were flying around. “And we got to meet the Avatar and my wife gets to show off her skills to someone who can properly appreciate them. I think we made a great decision.”

“And I get to learn waterbending!” piped up Nuktuk.

“Yeah, that’s right,” said Korra. “This spot ought to be good. Let’s start with the water whip.”

\---

As Korra taught Nuktuk how to waterbend with proper technique, Kunik and Asami continued working on the snowmobile. Kunik had rigged up an attachment to the snowmobile that would help it navigate over dry surfaces and was ratcheting it in place. Asami was offered tips on how to neatly align the hoses and wiring. After they were done, Kunik got up and marveled at how good she was feeling.

“I’ve been to a number of healers. A little accident-prone. But the Avatar’s healing – nothing ever felt as good as that. She has such a gentle and sensual touch. You wouldn’t think that from the muscles.”

“Yes, she’s pretty amazing,” Asami agreed, staring a little into space as she remembered the healing she had a few days prior.

“Yes,” said Kunik in what sounded like a suspicious tone. She was looking at Asami funny. Did she have a goofy lovestruck look on her face? She must have had a goofy lovestruck look on her face!

“My neck was sore the other day.”

Kunik stared at her more peculiarly. She took a glimpse of the Avatar and then back at Asami. What kind of activity would give Asami such a sore neck that needed healing? “Yeah, your neck,” said Kunik, who may not have realized that she said it out loud.

“I slept on it funny,” added Asami, awkwardly.

Kunik snapped out of her thought. “Oh, yes. Of course. Not really much of a camper myself.” She sounded almost apologetic. “Sore neck from sleeping funny, yes.” She threw on a pair of goggles. “Let’s see if this bunch of bolts works.”

“You haven’t tested it?”

Kunik shrugged. “Hadn’t had the time.” She hopped aboard and revved up the snowmobile. “Want to test it out with me?”

Asami looked over the machine, thought it looked sturdy, slapped on her own goggles and hopped into the sidecar. It felt odd being a passenger. Kunik slowly guided the machine towards the Northern Spirit Portal. They were so absorbed in their success that it took them a while to notice what was brewing ahead.

Asami slapped her forehead. “Of course!”

Korra and Nuktuk were bending snow onto the ground in front of the Northern Spirit Portal.

“My baby’s bending!” shouted Kunik proudly.

Deep inside, Asami wanted to shout out the same thing.

Kunik brought the snowmobile to a stop right before it could reach the snow. Korra and Irniq approached them, while Nuktuk was still absorbed in bending snow.

“So I thought I’d teach him a few things to make your return trip easier.”

Kunik was still awestruck by her son’s bending ability. “I’ve never seen a five-year-old able to do that. You’re a great teacher.”

“Aww. He’s a very powerful five-year-old.”

“If he’s five, then he’s older than Varrick’s mover series,” observed Asami.

“I’m from the North. I couldn’t imagine naming my kid after that series… even if Unalaq was –” Kunick stopped herself and turned apologetically to Korra. “Sorry, forgot he was your uncle.”

“Understandable.”

“My father’s name is ‘Nuktuk’,” said Irniq. “He just wants to be called _‘Chief_ ’ now. But Little Nuktuk loves the Nuktuk movers so…”

“And the actor who plays Nuktuk is so handsome!” said Kunik, teasing her husband.

“Stop!”

They were a disgustingly cute couple.

Kunik hopped off her snowmobile. “Well, I guess I have to take these moto-treads off now.”

“And I’ll check to see what the other side of the portal looks like so we don’t have the same problem again,” said Irniq. He then hopped onto his camel-yak and rode to the portal.

“I’ll stop Nuktuk,” said Korra.

“And I’ll get our bags,” said Asami.

\---

They all met back up at the snowmobile. The light in the sky appeared to be fading.

“Oh, that gives me a thought,” said Kunik. She rummaged through her sidecar again and pulled out a camera. “The light is perfect for a picture.  That is, if you don’t mind.”

“Would you like me to take it?” asked Asami.

“Oh, that’s not necessary.” Kunik broke out a tripod and a remote. She set them up so that the Tree of Time was in the background. Korra picked up Nuktuk and they all posed together while Kunik arranged the shot. Then she placed herself with the rest of them and pushed the button on the remote. The camera took two pictures – one with a flash and one without. “I can’t wait to develop it!” she exclaimed.

“I wish there was something we could do for you,” said Irniq.

“I’m the Avatar. This is the sort of thing I do. Helping people.”

Irniq reached into a bag tied onto the camel-yak. “Here.” He handed them a pouch. “I know it’s not much but it’s really good blubbered seal jerky. I made it myself.”

“Thanks,” said Korra, accepting the gift graciously.

“It’s actually really good,” said Kunik enthusiastically, not realizing how it came out. “And it’s a great fire starter too!” Then she remembered who she was standing in front of. “Not that you need help with starting fires.”

Irniq mounted his arctic camel-yak, Nuktuk hopped into the sidecar and Kunik got onto her snowmobile and revved her engine.

“Thank you, again, for everything,” said Irniq.

“Good luck with everything,” said Korra.

And with that the family waved and departed, working their way up the snowy path and through the Northern Spirit Portal.

Asami turned to Korra. “I was so caught up in the snowmobile that I forgot you could create snow. Why didn’t you remind me?”

“It was adorable seeing the two of you discuss _gadgety_ things. You looked like you were having a great time. You were in your element.”

“It’s funny hearing you talk about my _element_?”

“ _Techbending!_ ”

Asami chuckled. “Asami Sato, techbender.”

 _“Master techbender,”_ corrected Korra playfully.

“Do I get tattoos?”

“As many tattoos as you’d like. Anywhere you want them. Any color too. They don’t have to be blue.”

“In the shape of the Future Industries gear?”

“You could even have an elaborate ceremony. Instead of wind chimes you can rev engines!”

Asami took another look at the Northern Spirit Portal.

“You want to hire her, don’t you?”

“She’s exactly the kind of person I want at Future Industries.”

“Why not open an operation at the South Pole? We can check out locations when we go to the next Glacier Spirits Festival!”

“You’re already planning our _next_ vacation while we’re still on _this_ vacation.”

“Well, we’ll need something to look forward to with all the rebuilding projects and Earth Kingdom politics when we get back. Think about it. We’ll stay with my parents, check out the Southern Lights, have fried food on sticks…”

“I think this is really about the fried food on sticks.”

“…go penguin sledding.”

“Penguin sledding?”

“…and Varrick will be there too and you can discuss business stuff…”

“I’m not going into business with Varrick again!”

“…and you can start business operations there and hire Kunik to work for you and -- ”

“Those two are so…”

“In love?”

“Yes, that. And they make an adorable family.”

“Yeah, yeah they do. Unfortunate name for the kid though.”

“Those movers aren’t half bad.”

“But they’re travelling to the _North_ , with a kid named ‘Nuktuk’. I hope the Northerners don't give them too much grief about that.”

“You know that people all over the world – not just Southerners – are naming their daughters ‘Korra’, right? They probably have been since they found out you’re the Avatar.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.”

“There are probably some boys named ‘Korro’ too.”

“That sounds terrible!”

“Defeating the ultimate spirit of darkness? Taking down an airbender capable of flight? Bending a spirit beam into a spirit portal? Why wouldn’t a kid want to be named ‘Korro’?”

“I’d rather be named ‘Nuktuk’!”

 _“The hero of the south.”_ She didn’t quite sing it, but spoke it in tune.

“I didn’t think you’d like those movers.”

“Have you seen them?”

“Not really. But, I mean, _Varrick_ made them.”

“They’re fun. You should give them a try.  I think you’ll really like Roh-Tan.”

Korra gave her an unsure look.

Asami started singing teasingly:

“ _Who's gonna fight for friends and freedom? Nuktuk._  
_He's the biggest, baddest, bendingest man I know._  
_Who protects the icy tundra? Nuktuk._  
_Battling Northies out there in the snow._  
_When Unalaq starts trouble, he'll punch him in the mouth._  
_He's Nuktuk, the hero of the South.”_

Asami shot an immensely proud look towards Korra.

“Asami, you know ‘Northies’ is a slur, right?”

“Is it?”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe we need a new song then.” She had her hand at her chin and was taking this somewhat seriously.

“Don’t.”

Asami started singing even more confidently with the express purpose of flustering Korra even more:

 _“Who’s gonna fight for friends and freedom? Korra._  
_She’s the biggest, baddest, bendingest gal you’ll meet._  
_Who protects Republic City? Korra._  
_Battling mecha giants in the street._  
_When Kuvira starts firing, she’ll punch her in the mouth._  
_She’s Korra, the hero of the South.”_

Korra was bright red. “Were there fumes coming from that snowmobile?”

“You know that actress who plays ‘Korra’? She’s very attractive too.”

“Stop!”


	6. Foxy Spirit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The knowledge seeker fox is sly. Spirit whale transportation is not ideal. Korra and Asami collaborate on a new invention (…and on other things).

They were still near the Tree of Time and it was starting to get very dark.

“I don’t think we’ll want to stay here. Ground’s uncomfortably rocky. I can bend it nicer and there’s water here but we don’t know who else might travel through the portals.”

Asami took the map out of her bag and surveyed it. “The spirit fox thought this place was worth visiting.” She pointed to the waterfall that Iroh drew. “It’s pretty far. I think you need to call on spirit transportation.”

“Will do!” Korra took the map from Asami and called out to the spirits around them, “Hey, spirits, can one of you give us a ride to this waterfall?”

They heard a loud rumbly reply as Korra tucked the map back into Asami’s bag.

“What was that?” asked Asami.

“I’m not sure. I think it might be… oh…” She pointed to the sky.

A giant flying spirit whale was approaching them.

“I think that’s our ride.”

Asami observed its speed and trajectory and started to panic a little. “Korra, I don’t think it’s stopping!”

They both tried to run out of its path but the spirit whale was too fast for them. It opened its mouth and knocked the two of them inside.

Korra coughed. “Spirit saliva!”

They swished about inside near the opening of the spirit whale’s mouth. Korra had a hold on one of Asami’s and would waterbend a little to prevent them from falling too deep into the spirit whale.

“Asami, are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Just a little grossed out.”

The spirit whale bellowed at them, creating a gush of warm air that swept over Korra and Asami and only made their situation more disgusting, encrusting some of the saliva on their faces and in their hair.

The ordeal felt like it lasted forever but it was only for a couple of minutes. Soon the spirit whale dipped low to the ground, opened its mouth and dropped them next to a river. The drop, however, was a little too high and not very gentle. It was hard for Korra to bend an air cushion when covered in such viscous spirit whale saliva.

Asami rolled onto her back. Korra was concerned. “Are you hurt?”

“I think the spirit saliva broke my fall.” She got up, threads of saliva still connecting her to the ground. “Spirit whale is not my favorite form of transportation.”

“Yeah, we’ve got to get this goo off.” Korra jumped into the nearby river, spun herself in a water spout and waterbended herself clean. Normally, Asami was intrigued with Korra’s bending but she was overwhelmed with the misery of being covered in spirit goo. She proceeded to pull off her jacket and drop it to the ground where it made a loud, sloppy noise on impact.

“This is one of those times I really wish I was a waterbender.”

Korra was back on land, Airbending herself dry when she noticed what Asami was doing. “You’re gonna get cold.”

The sky was pretty dark now. The light they had was from nearby glowing spirits. Korra looked around for something to set on fire. She found some random branches on the ground and played around with them for a bit to make sure they weren’t spirits in the form of branches. Then she set them down and lit them on fire.

“Sit by this.”

Asami did as was instructed and sat by the fire.  Korra grabbed Asami’s rucksack and immediately threw the remaining pieces of spirit cake to the ground. They were gooped up and no longer edible. She pulled out the map, saw that it was starting to smear a little from the wetness, and used one hand to airbend it dry before it could be further ruined. She then pulled out the blanket and found that it, too, was spirit-spittled, but was relieved to find that it acted as a barrier and prevented other items in the bag from getting wet. She emptied the remaining items neatly onto the ground next to Asami and took the bag and the blanket to the river. She waterbended them clean, and then airbended them dry. She gave the blanket to Asami to cover herself with.

“How’s your shirt?”

“Everything feels gross.”

“I can turn around.” Korra turned so that she wasn’t looking at Asami.

“I feel a little… about you washing my _things_.”

“Remember when I was in the wheelchair?”

“You have a point,” admitted Asami.

Korra could hear Asami throw down her clothing, each piece making a sopping wet sound as they landed in a pile, the weight of spirit whale moisture making them heavier than they ought to be.

“Done.”

Korra turned and saw the pile of clothes, then Asami wrapped up in the blanket about as stylishly as anyone can wrap themselves in a blanket. Perhaps Korra stared a little too long.

“Hurry up, I’m freezing.”

“Your hair is all gunked up too.”

“You could have taken care of this when I still had clothes on!”

“I…I…forgot. _And you forgot too!_ ”

Asami sighed. Korra was frantically apologetic. She bent some water from the river into a ball in front of Asami and put a little effort into warming it up to a comfortable temperature. Seeing what Korra had in mind, Asami closed her eyes. First, the Avatar washed Asami’s face, then used the water to clean Asami’s hair. This seemed to calm both of them down considerably.

She then airbended the small pot they had used to cook noodles in upright, waterbended some warm water into it, and threw a clean wash cloth over the side of it.

“I’ll take care of your clothes now.”

Korra used another glob of water to pick up the clothes and carry them closer to the river. She bent a clean glob of water out of the river and proceeded to wash, then airbend dry Asami’s clothes piece by piece, starting with the inner things. Korra was amused by how coordinated every piece of Asami’s clothing was – even the garments one wouldn’t normally see.

Asami was accustomed to seeing bending used in probending matches or in battles against enemies but there was something fascinating about seeing it used for such mundane things as laundry. She observed that Korra was very efficient and appeared to have a developed a method that kept the clothes in one place while the elements swirled around it. After she finished scrubbing herself clean, she felt a little inspired and picked up her sketchbook and pencil and started drawing.

“Avatar Korra’s laundry service, with a delivery for a Miss Asami Sato,” said Korra holding Asami’s clean clothes. She noticed what Asami was drawing. “What have you got there?”

Asami turned her sketchbook around proudly. “It’s a compact washing and drying machine.”

“It does both? In one box?”

“Yes. I’ve still got to figure how that will work out exactly. I was watching you waterbending and airbending and thought why not put both into a machine.” Asami handed the sketchbook to Korra and took her clothes from the Avatar. Korra turned around so that Asami could dress.

“You know, waterbenders would only need the drying part, and airbenders would only need the washing part.”

“But there are firebenders, earthbenders and non-benders who could do with both. And maybe the machine will wash so well that a waterbender will let it do its job.”

“Or you could make it so that they only used the airbending cycle.”

“And when it does the both the waterbending and the airbending, we can call that the _‘Avatar cycle’._ ” She grinned widely after saying that.

Korra winced at first, but then laughed. “Asami, it’s missing firebending and earthbending!”

“Well, we can heat the air or the water and call that firebending. And we can say that the machine is so effective that it earthbends the toughest soil stains out.”

“All that in one, huh?”

“All that in one,” she repeated, thinking about something other than the compact washer-dryer.

Korra chuckled. “I think I really want to see this made now...even if it will put me out of the laundry business.”

“I’m sure you can find other work.”

As Asami continued to dress, Korra flipped through the pages of the sketchbook. There were drawings of several spirits, Iroh’s tea shop, and another invention with neat accompanying text that read, _“Not a spirit!”_ “And you’re designing a new toilet, too.”

“I’m more interested in the automatic sensor, really. And I’m done. You can look now.”

Korra turned to see Asami in a much better mood, and starting to sort through her items on the ground. “I should probably check my own bag.” Korra opened up her bag and tossed out the spirit cake she had packed but everything was otherwise fine.

They split a pack of Flamey-O Instant Noodles for dinner and chewed on some of Irniq’s blubbered seal jerky which Korra thought to be the best blubbered seal jerky she had ever had. They were also surprised to find that this riverbank hosted a number of other glowflies but unlike the ones they encountered on their first night, these did not behave synchronously. Rather, they held their glow for a long time and slowly fluttered about. It was a calm and pleasant sight.

They fell asleep watching them, Asami with her head partially on Korra’s shoulder and partially on Korra’s chest.

\---

Korra was still in a deep sleep when Asami awoke the next morning. Rather than lay there and risk neck cramp again, she got up, stretched a little and observed the world around her. On the other side of the riverbank was a giant green dragonfly-bunny spirit sound asleep. She took out her sketchbook and was shading her drawing when Korra woke up and looked over her shoulder.

“That looks like Jinora’s friend, Furry-Foot.”

“I’ve seen a lot of Jinora’s spirit friends while working on Republic City’s infrastructure. I don’t remember seeing this one.”

“Oh, he’s the size of Bum-Ju in our world, that’s why. I don’t know why but he’s bigger in the Spirit World.” Korra handed Asami an individually-wrapped Varri-cake. “Varri-cake for breakfast!”

Asami broke off a third of the Varri-cake and squeezed some of the filling from the larger portion onto the smaller one.  She gave the smaller piece back to Korra. “Think we should ask him for a ride?”

“I’m not sure. I think the waterfall must be pretty close by. Why else would the whale drop us here?  I’ll see if I can spot it from here.” And, at that, Korra ran towards some trees and airbended her way up through the branches. She reached the top of the canopy and very quickly turned around and headed back down.

“Did you find it?”

“It’s in that direction.” She pointed upstream. “We can walk to it from here. Or would you rather add dragonfly-bunny to your list?”

Asami pondered for a moment. The spirit whale episode had briefly turned her off of spirit transportation. And she remembered Rong’s comment about dragonfly-bunnies being _gossipy_. “We can try dragonfly-bunny some other time.”

They ventured upstream, greeted by much of the same greenery. The current appeared to get stronger and stronger the further they went. “If it was downstream we could have rafted to it,” noted the Avatar. They could hear the sound of rustling water get louder and louder but before they could catch sight of the waterfall, a pair of blue eyes stood in their path.

“Do you suppose it’s the same fox?” asked Korra.

As they got closer, the fox bounded towards Asami and rubbed the back of its head against her leg. “Yep, same fox.” Asami got down on one knee and petted the fox on the head and scratched behind one of its ears before placing each of her hands on the fox’s cheeks. “I’d recognize these blue eyes anywhere.”

The fox circled them for a moment, then scampered towards the waterfall before turning around and facing them again.

“And I think she wants us to follow her.”

They followed the fox up the riverbank and shortly caught sight of the waterfall. It wasn’t particularly grand but the force of it was still very strong, enough to question whether one would want to be near the bottom of it. The fox paused for a moment so that they could look, but then continued scampering on a rock ledge closer and closer to the waterfall until they found themselves walking behind it, where mist and light created rainbow hues over the edge of the path. When they got to the other side they found a narrow opening that the fox descended into. Korra had to bend down a little to get in. Asami had to bow down a little bit more. But the path opened up considerably after a few feet and both were able to walk through completely upright and side-by-side.

Protruding from the walls of the cave were green glowing crystals.

“It’s like the crystals that were mined under Ba Sing Se,” observed Asami.

The fox kept scurrying deeper into the cave. For a little while the air got staler until it got a little fresher again. They reached an opening where there were still crystals on the walls but instead of green they were blue and purple.

The fox stood in the middle of the opening and playfully howled at them.

“This is a very nice den you have here, foxy spirit. Where to next?”

The fox appeared to yawn, then seemed to do something with its eyes as if it was confused by the question. It then scampered up to Asami, wrapped itself around her legs and pushed her closer to Korra with enough force that Asami had to grab ahold of the Avatar with both hands to keep from falling over.

The fall was _perfect_. They were eye level, their faces inches apart.  Korra briefly considering kissing her right then but Asami turned to look where the fox had gone.

The fox had scampered back to the entrance, turned to face them, and then…

“Did the fox just… _wink_ at us?”

… she was gone.

Korra, who was still holding Asami, had a cheeky grin on her face. “Asami, what have you been telling the spirit fox?”

Asami awkwardly but gently separated herself from Korra. Her thoughts were racing, searching for a reply, as she patted Korra’s shoulders as if she was knocking some dust away. She even gave a little throat-clearing cough.

Korra looked directly at Asami with the most innocent look she could muster, held her arms out as if craving the biggest hug, and said the most ridiculously earnest thing she could conjure up: “You don’t want cuddles from your _Korra-bear_?”

Asami was stunned. “Did you just--? Really? I can’t believe you…with your mouth…said _that_.”

Korra laughed. “I’m sorry. It’s just…well, every blade of grass and every speck of dust has been telling you how I feel. I get a little excited and something sparkles!” She held both hands up and twiddled her fingers as she said it. “Why can’t one spirit fox help me out?”

“But _‘Korra-bear?’_.”

“At least Mako never called me that so it’s unique!”

“What did he call you?”

“’Korra’,” she replied, shrugging. “I just called him ‘Mako’, or ‘officer’,” and, after realizing how it sounded she was quick to add, “ _but not like that!_ ”

“You missed out on so much fun then.”

“I think I was kind of busy. Airbending training, dark spirits, saving the world from 10,000 years of darkness. You know, Avatar stuff. Besides, what do I call you?”  She pulled Asami close, craned her neck so her lips were close to Asami’s ear and tried affecting a sultry voice which only came out sounding, at-best, sassy, “ _C.E.O._ ”

Asami liked being held this close. She placed her lips close to Korra’s ear and whispered, “Captain of Industry.”

Korra’s eyes raised as she repeated it, still trying hard to use an alluring voice, “ _Captain of Industry.”_ They were standing so close that Korra could feel a slight shiver and Asami’s heart racing a little. “And then what do you call me? ‘Avatar’?”

Asami’s eyes narrowed as she whispered into Korra’s ear, “ _Master of All the Elements._ ” And then she held the Avatar even closer, about as close as possible, to feel for Korra’s reaction.

It was a little too intense for the Master of All the Elements and the Captain of Industry found herself being pushed away. Korra was laughing and blushing. “I could do with a combustion bender right now. Or a dark spirit. Or a combustion bender possessed by a dark spirit.” She looked towards the entrance of the cave, not really hoping for her wish to be granted. “At least I’d know what to do. We’d take care of _dark-spirity combusition-bender_  in no time. But this…I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

“I think you’re doing just fine. You’re so used to saving the world, fighting enemies, and helping people. We’ll get there eventually.”

At that, Korra opened up her arms the same way she had earlier and, this time, Asami let herself be held. “You know, I don’t think I’ve told you that I love you yet, have I?”

“You haven’t needed to say it. Korra, I know—”

“I love you.” It surprised her how sheepish the words sounded and she wished it had come out differently. She could feel a slight lurch from Asami and a gentle sigh.

“I love you, too.”

Korra lightened her grip so that she could look directly at Asami. “Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, would you like to be my girlfriend?”

Asami was surprised. “Wait, haven’t we _been_ girlfriends?”

“In what way are we talking about? Like how Naga is my girlfriend or—“

_“The other way!”_ Asami’s frustration broke their embrace. “So this whole time, you didn’t think this was a date?”

“Oh, this is a date. I mean, I’ve been thinking this has been a date. But I think there’s a difference?”

“I’ve been falling asleep on you almost every night and we kissed a couple of times!”

Now Korra sighed. “No wonder Mako was so confused! Did you guys ever say, _‘Hey, we’re boyfriend-girlfriend now’_?”

“Wasn’t it was obvious. You saw how we were. We went on dates almost every day and he was living at my estate and—”

“But you never said it?”

“We said we would always care for one another.” The realization seemed to hit Asami at this moment. She looked down to the ground. “Oh.”

Korra bowed down so that she can meet Asami’s downcast eyes. “So how long have _we_ officially been dating -- _as girlfriends_?”

“Since we walked through the portal?” Asami responded, though it sounded more like question than answer.  “Why?”

Korra grinned. “I want to get our anniversary right. That’s a very convenient day too.”

“Why’s that?”

“I can ask Zhu Li to remind me every year. It’s the same as her wedding anniversary.”

Asami couldn’t find the words.

Korra wrapped her comforting arms around her again. “We’ve gotten through so much together already. We’ll get through this too.” She made sure the hug was extra warm and firm.

The soothing warm hug did the trick. Asami melted into it. “You’re right.”

“Or we can pretend that we passed through the portal after midnight.”

“I’m not putting our anniversary off by a day because of Varrick.”

They stood there in a long, warm embrace. The crystals around them appeared to glow brighter. When they let go the crystals returned to their usual state.

\---

As nice and unique as the cave was, they didn’t want to waste the daylight so they headed out the way they came, paying more attention to and marveling more at the crystals around them.

“I’ve never seen blue and purple crystals like these. This could be a tourist attraction,” commented Asami.

“Like the Republic City Spirit Wilds?”

“I can’t imagine building a hotel in the Spirit World for patrons to stay at though.” She explained how Rong had opened up a hole in the ground. Korra shared her experience with the prairie-dog-meerkats from when she first meditated into the Spirit World. “How do you even approach laying down a foundation on land that a spirit could easily turn into a whirlpool?”

They reached the opening. Korra hopped out first, then reached over to pull Asami out. They walked through the mist, Asami’s arm over Korra’s shoulder and Korra’s hand around Asami’s waist. The knowledge-seeker spirit fox was waiting for them a few yards away.

“What do you think the fox is thinking?”

“That we _did it_ ,” whispered Asami.

“Ha! I think it’s cute you have your own spirit friend looking out for you, like your own ‘Bum-Ju’.”  They reached the fox.  “Maybe you should call her ‘Asa-ju’.”

Asami cringed in embarrassment. The fox had heard Korra because it glared at her and groaned.

“It sounded so much better in my head.” The fox turned away from her and approached Asami.

Asami knelt down and patted the fox. “I wish there was something we can do for you.”

The fox pawed at Asami’s bag.

“Are you hungry?”

The fox whimpered and kept pawing.

“All right, all right.”

She swung her bag ito her front and pulled out a piece of blubbered seal jerky. The fox was still focused on the bag.

“It’s something else then?”

The fox nodded and pointed to the bag with her nose.

Asami pulled out her sketchbook.  The fox pawed at it.

“This is one of Wan Shi Tong’s knowledge seekers,” commented Korra. “They have collected books from all over the world for his library.”

Asami looked at her sketchbook, then looked at the fox who was eager to have it.  “There isn’t any real knowledge in here, I’m afraid.” The fox stood next to her as she flipped through the pages. The first few pages didn’t interest the fox but towards the end the fox placed a paw on the page to stop Asami.

“This?” she asked incredulously.

The fox nodded eagerly.

“Okaaaay.” Asami neatly ripped the page out and handed it to her spirit friend.

The fox grabbed the sheet of paper with her mouth, nodded to them, and scampered away.

Asami stood up to see the fox disappear up the cliff.

“What did you give her?” asked Korra.

There was a hint of disbelief in Asami’s voice. “It was the draft of the improved design for the automatic-sensor toilet.”

Korra broke out into uncontrollable laughter. Asami chuckled with her. “This waterfall is pretty and all but if we stay near it I’m going to keep thinking about toilets,” said Korra after regaining her composure.

Asami broke out the map and they pored over it. “A shame this got smudged. At least it’s still readable.”

“Maybe we should head back in the direction of the Republic City portal. Maybe there’s something interesting in these spots.” Korra pointed to areas that met the criteria of being near the portal and not crossed out by Iroh. “And they look to be downstream too.”

“Are we going to raft it? The current looks a little strong.”

Korra waterbended a raft out of ice but as soon as she put it on the water, the current whipped it away and smashed it on some rocks. “Dragonfly-bunny time?”

Asami put a hand on Korra’s shoulder. “Dragonfly-bunny time.”

They walked back in the direction where they had camped the previous night. They ran into Furry-Foot chilling under some trees before they got there. “Hey, hello. Avatar Korra, friend of Jinora, here.”

Furry-Foot’s eyes opened widely and his wings flapped.

“Yeah, I was wondering if you could take us to some fields near the new spirit portal.”

Furry-Foot chirped back at them and turned around to let them hop on his back. Korra hopped on and reached out a hand to help Asami up.

There was something about riding a dragonfly-bunny spirit that was familiar to Asami. Furry-Foot’s ability to fly or hover in any direction reminded her a lot of the hummingbird mechasuits that she had invented.

Furry-Foot chirped merrily along the way, Korra unsure if this is what he usually did or if he was trying to make conversation with them and she was simply failing to understand him. He followed the path of the river until it ended, and then continued on to a green field spotted with trees. The Republic City spirit portal was visible in the far-off distance.

Korra leaned over to the side of Furry-Foot’s face and pointed to a spot on a ground – a tangled-up looking tree sitting on a small, steep hill with patches of white flowers at its base. “That should be good.”

Furry-Foot landed at the spot Korra had pointed out and let the two slide off of him. He then turned and chirped at them.

“Thank you, Furry-Foot.”

Furry-Foot stayed rooted at the spot and just stared at them.

“Is there something else?”

Furry-Foot chirped some more.

Korra was getting nervous. Her hand reached behind her neck. “Yeah, uh-huh. I’m a little rusty on my _dragonfly-bunnese_.”

Furry-Foot hung his head a little in disappointment and chirped a bit more but it sounded different from all his previous chirping. It was rather curt. He then turned and took off.

“I think he might have just sassed me.”

Asami unpacked her blanket and placed it at the trunk of what was really two trees that had somehow grown intertwined with one another. She sat upon the blanket. Korra sat next to her and they looked over the field. Some of the grass was fairly tall, yet one could make out worn paths. It had been empty when they landed but they noticed that all sorts of spirits would travel through the field to get from one place to another.

Asami poured water into two small cups, then emptied a sweetened green tea powdered mix into them. It wasn’t the greatest of drinks – no consumable item they brought with them from the physical world could be considered high cuisine – but it was refreshing enough. Asami thought of how Iroh might be disappointed to learn that they would drink such a thing.

They sat there quietly looking at the scenery and quietly looking at each other. It was as if nothing needed to be said. When they finished drinking, Korra took the cups, waterbended them clean, then repacked them into Asami’s bag. Asami broke out her sketchbook again and hastily drew a design for a dishwashing machine. Korra looked it over, shook her head a little, then bended some water out of her canteen to illustrate how the water should flow to clean all the dishes in the machine. Asami redrew the design until it met Korra’s approval, then gave her a light peck on the cheek in celebration of their first schematic together.

Korra blushed. Asami leaned in to do it again but instead of meeting her cheek, Korra had turned to meet her lips with her own instead. The Avatar grinned slyly and, with her expression, invited Asami to try again. It was hard to resist but somehow Asami found it in her to return a skeptical look. Korra returned with sweetly pleading eyes but still Asami wouldn’t give in. She started to turn away when, in a frenzy, Korra leaned over to place a full kiss on her lips but the combination of her hasty forcefulness and Asami shifting away at just the wrong moment, caused Korra to fall over her awkwardly. Asami tried to prevent it by grabbing onto her girlfriend but she underestimated her weight, the mass and the momentum were more than she could calculate, the hill was too steep, and gravity too much of a law that they found themselves rolling and sliding down the hill. Before they reached the bottom, Korra grabbed onto Asami and tried to airbend a cushion to land on, but the air swirled a little too much and they ended up skimming across it. They landed in a patch of tall white flowers, Korra keeping Asami on top of her and making sure to take the brunt of the fall herself.

Being the Spirit World, the flowers turned into butterflies and flew upwards into the air, sprinkling glittery pollen down upon them. They smiled goofily at one another, then started giggling, Then Asami rolled off onto her back and entered into a fit of laughter. Korra started uncontrollably laughing as well. It was the pollen!

Korra airbended the pollen off, wiped tears off laughter out of her eyes, and looked over to her girlfriend. She wanted to ask if she was all right but could tell just from looking that she was just fine, only some strands of her hair were oddly out of place. She reached and cleared the strands from Asami’s eyes but found her hand on Asami’s face longer than she had originally intended. Asami looked at her, part-expectant, part chiding. It was a bit confusing, and Korra wished to remove that confusion. She moved closer, propped herself up slightly, and placed the gentlest, lingering kiss.

When Korra pulled away, Asami finally spoke. “You could have saved us the trouble of falling down the hill and kissed me sooner.”

“You’re right. But we wouldn’t have ended up here.” She gestured towards the sky with the spirits flying above and the blades of grass around them.

“True.” Asami cuddled up to her girlfriend who wrapped a comforting arm around her. “I could stay here with you forever.”

“But I want to _go_ _everywhere_ with you.”

“Would you like go to my infrastructure meeting with President Raiko tomorrow?”

“ _Almost_ anywhere with you.”

“Raiko’s not that bad.”

“He’s the worst president _ever!_ ” Her free hand shot up into the air in exasperation.

“He’s the _only_ president the United Republic has ever had,” she factually stated, placing her hand on Korra’s shoulder to calm her down.  Her tone changed in a way that didn’t sound too supportive of the president. “That also makes him the _best_ president.”

“Once people start complaining about the rubble, I’m sure Raiko’s gonna push the blame on me like he did with the spirit vines.”

“Don’t worry about Raiko. I’ve been working with him for years. I’ll take care of him for you. You can take care of the rest of the world.”

“That’s not a bad deal. No wonder you’re a Captain of Industry.”

“It’s not easy. It’s not as hard as saving the world though.” Her tone took on an edge of seriousness. “I couldn’t imagine going through the things you’ve gone through in just the past four years.”

Korra’s tone was also serious. “I can say the same for you.”

The comment took Asami by surprise. She raised her head to look at Korra. “It’s not the same thing. Nothing anyone has gone through can compare. You’re the Avatar. It’s always going to be bigger with you.”

“It doesn’t mean that what you have to deal with is not important. I don’t know how to rebuild a city and you’ve already done it once. I couldn’t solve the vine problem and you…”

“Took three years to get things back to operational.”

“I took three years to heal.”

It got quiet between them. They were having the same thoughts but neither felt like expressing them in words. They just lay there, feeling each other’s warmth, listening to each other’s breaths, wanting to spend as much time together before having to return to Republic City. They were so peaceful, they fell asleep.

It was getting dark when they awoke but the butterfly flower spirits had returned and were glowing a warm red color. When they got up, the butterfly flower spirits hovered around them, helping light their way back up the hill to retrieve their things, and through the fields. They walked hand-in-hand. Other spirits joined them, as if wanting to pick up on their positive energy.

When they reached the field with the Republic City spirit portal, the spirits dispersed in all directions or teleported themselves away.

“Ready for a warm bath, a warm meal, and a bed?”

Asami stopped. “Maybe we don’t go back? Not yet.”

Korra looked into Asami’s eyes and could tell her meaning.

Asami gave her a look that she understood immediately. They broke out the blanket and Korra earthbended a wall that they could lean their backs against. They sat and looked at the spirit portal. Asami caressed Korra’s hands. “It’s amazing what these hands are capable of.”

“The cannon and the vines helped. I just redirected all the spiritual energy.”

_“Just?!_ Korra, you’re the most powerful being in two worlds. _”_

“It’s not all about power though. I needed to feel connected. I needed to understand others. I needed to understand myself. And I want to understand so much more.” She held Asami’s hand firmly.

“Korra, I don’t think I’m that complicated to figure out.”

Korra looked into Asami’s eyes again, caressed her cheek with her hand, and firmly placed a kiss on her lips. “Ready to go home?” she asked, their faces still close together.

Asami returned Korra’s kiss with a gently teasing one. “Now I’m ready.”

At that they both got up, collected their things, and each with an arm around the other, walked to the spirit portal.


End file.
